It’s been a meteoric rise for the Bulli teenager who can play either in central defence or at left back.

After attending a youth tournament in Manchester with the Football NSW Institute of Sport in 2015, Liverpool scouts offered the then 15-year-old a one year contract with their U-18 side.

The Thirroul junior spent the next 12 months with the Reds academy and after some impressive performances in England, scouts from the Eredivisie side offered Ryan a three-year deal with the first team.

“It’s amazing, it’s a dream come true,” Ryan said. “Signing my first professional contract and to do it at the age of 16 is massive, it doesn’t happen very often and it’s incredible.”

The Wollongong teenager said Willem coaches expect him to be in the frame for a first team debut in less than a year.

“They have expectations of me becoming a first team footballer in the next six months,” he said. “Joris Mathijsen is actually one of the directors at the club, he played for the Netherlands in 2010 World Cup final and he is a legend over in Holland.

“He plays left centre back like me and says that he really enjoys watching me play. From the first training session, he told me that he wanted to sign me. To get someone like him and a hero like him to talk to me and say all that to me is incredible.”

After 12 months learning his trade at the Liverpool youth academy, the teenager is excited at the next phase of his career and has no reservations about his choice to leave the Merseyside club.

“I’m not disappointed at all, there is no disappointment,” he said. “I enjoyed my time there and the coaching staff were very supportive. When I told them about the opportunity that arose to move to Willem they were supportive and said it was the right decision.

“I’m still 16 and I still have a lot more developing to do and I’m just looking for a place to develop and hopefully from there it will open many doors and there will be places to go.”

Until the age of nine Ryan played for his local side in Thirroul before being selected into the Skillaroos squad. He then earnt a spot at the NSWIS program under the tutelage of former Socceroo Milan Blagojevic, and Ryan believes it was the effort in these formative years that got him where he is today.

“I was training four times a week up in Sydney and living in Wollongong and travelling an hour and a half there and back,” he said. “I just worked hard and put everything I had into it. I was doing stuff outside football, those little one and two percenters, things that really make a difference in your football.

“I was so dedicated to what I want to do. I want to succeed and I am loving every part of it.”