It has been the recurrent theme of Liverpool’s reserve season, the question asked after each game: is Krisztian Nemeth ready to play for the first team?

The Hungarian striker has certainly made an impact since his arrival from MTK Hungaria in the summer. Exceptional with the ball at his feet, great awareness of what is going on around him and, above all, an innate scoring ability have often made him the stand-out player in a side that contains a number of players who look capable of making it at the highest level.

An outstanding goal scoring trail for his national youth sides – which included seven goals in three matches for the U19s in a mini-tournament in Cyprus – sounded promising but was viewed with a degree of suspicion: Hungary hasn’t produced too many talents in the last fifty years so there was always going to be some doubt about Nemeth’s true value.

Two goals on his reserve team debut and a further three in the following two games promptly proved that he was as good as had been made out to be. Inevitably, they also led to the constant calls to see him included in the first team set-up.

Countering such claims about his readiness for Premiership football, however, is the overall level at which he has played up to now. Far from being a place where out of favour first-teamers maintain their fitness or get back from injury that it used to be, the reserves league effectively pits boys against boys. Only rarely has Nemeth come across any player he would face in the first team.

Given how Liverpool are playing at the moment, with just one main striker, it makes it all the more difficult for Nemeth. That player needs to have a certain degree of experience to play the role well and handle the role that it brings with it. Regardless of how talented he is, there’s no way that Nemeth is ready for that just yet.

That does not hold, however, for the support roles normally filled by Ryan Babbel and Dirk Kuyt on either side. Having played largely played as a second striker alongside the less mobile Jordy Brouwer, it is a role into which Nemeth seems to be fitting in well increasing the probability that it is there that he will initially get his opportunity.

And that is a question of when, not if for there is no doubt that he will eventually make it into Benitez’s starting eleven.

Interested in reading more about Liverpool's young players? Find many more profiles here.