Shamal George prefers to talk about how he became a goalkeeper than the unlikely day he played up front for Liverpool. Carlisle United's striking young loanee wants to establish a first-team reputation in Cumbria and beams as he recalls the first time he wore a pair of gloves

Asked about his route to Anfield, aged 10, he says: "Yeah, for me to be a goalkeeper was a bit of a weird story.

"My brother had a tournament when we were under-9s, just Sunday league, and the goalkeeper didn't turn up. So they put me in goal.

"I won it for us. Then the next week we had another final, and I won that for us. Tranmere saw me, I had a six week trial, and got accepted in two weeks. I was there for a year with John Achterberg, then he went to Liverpool, and he took me with him. I had a week's trial there, and got in.

"Before that, I was a striker. So it was a bit of luck."

George had never thought of being a keeper before that accidental day, but has spent the nine years since pushing through at the giant Merseyside club. Carlisle is his first loan move and the 19-year-old, who may already be the tallest player at the club, will challenge Jack Bonham, another loanee, for the right to play in Keith Curle's team.

If he does seize his chance, it will help George become known for something more than his remarkable cameo for Jurgen Klopp's side last summer, when he made his first appearance for the first-team not in goal, but in attack.

It happened in the second half of a friendly at Huddersfield. Klopp, who had used all his substitutes when Lucas Leiva suffered an injury, asked George to play outfield for the last 23 minutes.

With Klopp later saying the keeper had performed "wonderfully well" at the other end of the pitch, it is a day that follows George around, and an injury-hit 2016/17 did not give him many opportunities to give supporters something more conventional to talk about.

"People still talk about it," he says. "It gets on my nerves a little bit. I want to be known as a goalkeeper, not as a striker. Hopefully I can play games soon and be known as a goalkeeper, not a striker."

He accepts, though, that his cameo was out of the ordinary - and the opposite of the day he became a keeper. "Yeah, I didn't expect anything like it. We had no more subs and they called me to come on. It was nerve-wracking but I enjoyed it. It was very weird, but I did alright, to be fair."

George also went to America with Liverpool's first-team squad that summer. "It was very demanding, it was tough," he says. "Because it was pre-season, you trained more than once a day, and there was a bit of running involved, which I don't do much of! It was quite hard but I enjoyed it and did well."

His path from there was painfully interrupted. "Yeah, I was out for about eight months," he says. "I had torn ligaments in my elbow twice and I had torn muscles in my elbow." He lets out a rueful laugh. "So it's not a season I'll look back on fondly.

"I just have to get that out of the way now and focus on this season, and hopefully staying injury-free. I'm looking forward to it."

George, who is this week at an England training camp, arrived at Carlisle less than a week before the start of the new season. To begin with he is understudy to Brentford's Bonham, as United begin 2017/18 with two borrowed No1s.

This is how Curle and coach Simon Tracey have looked to fill the void left by long-serving Mark Gillespie, who saved two penalties on his Walsall debut last Saturday.

"Of course, I'm excited," George says. "I've only been here a few days, so I still need to get used to my environment, but everyone here has helped me settle in very well.

"I haven't talked to the manager that much yet, but I'm sure we'll catch up soon. The team have been very nice to me. I'm younger than most of them, and it's my first loan, so it's new to me in that respect."

George came to Carlisle after signing a new contract at Liverpool. "I've been at Liverpool since I was 10, so to get kept on again was exciting for me and my family. There have been talks since the start of pre-season about whether I was going to go on loan or not. It's something I wanted to do.

"It was an option between Bury and Carlisle, but I think this was the better option. Me and my agent sat down and spoke about it, and I'm happy to be here. Of course I want plenty of game-time and I want men's football. I need to play men's football. So it's a big step for me."

George says he has learned a lot at Liverpool, including the importance of hard work. "At a young age, I was immature, so I didn't really understand it," he says. "I just thought, 'this is football', but as I've grown up I've realised how serious it is.

"I take my job very seriously. Some people don't see it as a job, but it is. It's not as easy as everyone thinks it is. But I enjoy it, that's the main thing, and I hope to have a career in it."

In League Two, where every point matters, this approach is crucial. "Of course," he nods. "Jobs are on the line and it's important for everyone to play their part."

George admits he did not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Blues when Tracey made their approach, but then he did not need to. He has since caught up on the essentials. "The only thing I know is they were in the play-offs last season, against Exeter wasn't it? And lost 3-2? So hopefully we can do the same thing, but get to League One this time. I'll play my part in that for sure."

Growing up at Liverpool has been a proud experience for George. From the Wirral, he is a dyed-in-the-wool red. "My whole family support them. I've supported them since I was a baby. My dad's from London but even he supports Liverpool. Everyone does.

"Even travelling with the first team is a big moment for me. Even the two [Under-23] games I played last year - I only played two games since my injury - they were both at Anfield and I did well in both of them."

The charismatic Klopp has so far talked to George less than academy director Alex Inglethorpe. "I haven't spoken to the boss too much," the keeper says. "But [Alex] told me to go and do my best here at Carlisle, keep my standards up."

The senior keepers at Anfield, like Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius, also look out for George. "They help the young ones," he says. "Danny Ward's back now as well, so it will be good to speak to him. I need to talk to him and see what being on loan's like.

"They help you a lot, which is important as a young player. So hopefully I can do well here, go back and show how good I can be. That's me being confident, not cocky. Hopefully I can do well and we'll see what happens."

United are two games into a long season, while George and Bonham's loans last until January. "I like competition," the younger man says. "It keeps you on your front foot all the time. I don't mind that.

"Training's been fine so far. It's not too much different from Liverpool. I've enjoyed it. And I'm ready whenever. I just need to speak to the boss and see what he thinks, and keep doing well in training."

Opportunity will come in due course for a player whose first steps have been eventful and not always conventional. Now it is time for George to build a career of substance. "I can't wait to play again," he says. "It's definitely more excitement than nerves."