Young Liverpool goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis has revealed he is modeling himself on current Reds number one Pepe Reina.
The 19-year old Sydney-born shot-stopper, currently on loan with League Two club Accrington Stanley, told Goal.com that he wants to follow in the footsteps of the Spanish gloveman and become the best in his field.
"He's one of the leaders in the squad. I rate him as the best goalkeeper in the world and to have him at your club, to be able to watch him play is good because you want to learn from the best," Bouzanis said.
"The goalkeeping coaches at Liverpool mould you to play like Pepe, his kicking and everything that he does. You've got to train to be like him.
"It's a big part of the learning curve, what they say. They often give us DVDs and go with us our own games that we play. The goalkeeping coach pulls me aside and shows me clips and shows me where I should have done better; it might be a small thing but you can still pick up on it. He'll pick up the DVD and compare it to the likes of Pepe, Peter Cech and [Iker] Casillas."
Bouzanis admits that he is still a way off players in that ilk but is keen to learn and get better, hence his reason for a loan deal to Accrington.
"You've got to start from somewhere don't you?" Bouzanis added. "That's why I've wanted to go on loan. It's different in the lower leagues because it's a lot more physical and that's tested my high ball game whereas in the Premier League it is a lot more technical and a lot quicker.
"When I first came down I found the physical side a little bit difficult and that's something I've had to adapt to.
"The first thing the goalkeeper said to me was that it was a good learning curve to see how physical the game is and to play with men."
Along with Reina, Bouzanis admits that he also follows current Australian number one Mark Schwarzer who he hopes to join at the World Cup in South Africa in June.
"Ever since I've followed football from a young age it's always been Schwarzer. He's been around all my life at the top level for a very long time and that's all I've ever known in terms of playing for the Socceroos," he added further.
"For me to play against him (in the FA Cup) and see what he's like was amazing as well because I look up to him.
"Mark said to me he'd started at lower leagues and worked his way up to get experience and to hear that from Mark and to hear he took the same route as me, I was happy to have a chat with him and see how he'd progressed.
"He just said to keep working hard and that things would fall in place for me."
