​When a teenage Anthony Gordon burst onto the scene as a Liverpool schoolboy he was “untouchable” on the football pitch.Teachers and coaches at his former schools recalled shouting at other boys to simply “give it to Gordo” – and let the skinny but lightening-quick prodigy do the rest.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNow the 25-year-old Barcelona winger is not only living his dream at the highest level – including stand-out performances at the World Cup for the three Lions – but inspiring the kids kicking a ball about on the same pitches he once did.Matty Deeney, head of school at Wade Deacon High School in Widnes, where Gordon attended from Year 10, said: “It’s such an inspiration for children that come to our school and Widnes, little old Widnes, that we’ve got a World Cup quarter-finalist.”Whether the interest is sport or whatever it is, just to see what you can achieve with hard work and ambition.”Anthony Gordon made his name scoring “bags and bags of goals” at schoolboy level in Liverpool [PA Media]Gordon was born in Norris Green, Liverpool, before moving to Walton where he initially attended Alsop High School.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDespite an early knock-back when he was released by Liverpool FC, he was picked up by Everton FC’s academy, where a pre-existing partnership between the club and Wade Deacon saw him transfer for the start of Year 10.Since breaking into the senior side he has racked up more than 200 appearances for Everton and Newcastle, as well as 23 senior caps for England since 2024.Year seven pupil Belle said Gordon’s success was an inspiration [BBC]Former head of PE at Alsop, Jon Weights, said the boy who went by “Gordo” was untouchable on the pitch – scoring “bags and bags of goals”.”With Gordo, though, the thing that made him really stand out was his drive, his mindset.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”He wasn’t the biggest, he was very quick but there were boys as quick as him. But that never really deterred him, it always drove him on,” he said.”He had an inner drive that I suppose in hindsight, I probably didn’t appreciate at the time.”Weights, who also coached the teenager at Liverpool Schools Football Association, said Gordon’s complete focus on football sometimes came at the expense of his other studies.He joked: “It was interesting watching him with his recent move to Barcelona and he came out speaking Spanish, because I’d spoken to a couple of his Spanish teachers, and he certainly didn’t concentrate on Spanish in school at the time.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement”Like most of us it was all about the football, everything was about football.”Matty Deeney was head of year when Anthony Gordon moved to Wade Deacon High School [Jonny Humphries/BBC]Fellow Alsop PE teacher Steven Griffin, who managed the school’s football team, said Gordon was a “lively boy” who was determined to make it in the sport.”He sort of channelled all of his efforts into making that happen, as opposed to going do