Liverpool's best homegrown players ever

Liverpool have a proud history of producing players, stretching right back to the early 20th century.

These stars all began their professional careers at Anfield – and many of them went on to become true Reds legends.

Let's get straight down to business, shall we...?

Six-time Scotland international Dominic Matteo was spotted in 1984 by then Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish – who had gone along to Birkdale United to watch his son Paul play.

The versatile defender made his senior Reds debut in 1993, going on to feature 155 times in all over the next seven years.

Curtis Jones grew up in the Toxteth area of Liverpool and joined the Reds at the age of nine, rising through the youth ranks to make his first-team debut shortly before his 18th birthday.

The midfielder became regularly involved from the 2020/21 season onwards, impressing to the point that he earned his first senior England call-up in May 2024.

A Liverpool lad who joined the Reds as an apprentice, defender Gary Ablett made his professional debut in 1985 and went on to feature over 100 times for the first team, winning two First Division titles and the FA Cup.

Ablett – who also played for Everton – later coached Liverpool’s U21s and was a hugely popular figure at the club, as shown by the outpouring of grief upon his death from cancer in 2012 at the age of only 46.

Born in Motherwell, Scotland, Bobby Graham joined Liverpool as a teenager and broke into Bill Shankly’s first team shortly before his 20th birthday in 1964.

The forward faced stiff competition in attack from Roger Hunt and fellow Motherwell-born frontman Ian St John, but he still scored more than 30 goals for the Reds – including 21 during the 1969/70 season.

A full-back who earned five caps for Wales, Ray Lambert racked up 342 appearances for Liverpool – his only club.

Lambert became the youngest player ever to join a League club when he arrived at Liverpool aged 13 years and 189 days in 1936 – and having had to wait a decade for his professional debut due to the Second World War, he helped the Reds to the 1946/47 First Division title.

Midfielder Jimmy Melia joined Liverpool as a 15-year-old and signed his first professional contract at 17, featuring 286 times and notching 79 goals during the best part of a decade at Anfield.

A Second and First Division champion with Bill Shankly’s Reds, Melia also scored once in two caps for England.

Tricky right-winger Jimmy Payne grew up supporting Everton – and he did briefly play for them at the end of injury-truncated career – but he started out at Liverpool, making his first-team debut in 1948.

A 1950 FA Cup runner-up with the Reds, the ‘Merseyside Matthews’ (a nod to his great contemporary, Stanley) scored 43 goals in 243 games overall.

Glaswegian midfielder Brian Hall moved to Liverpool to study for a maths degree, choosing the city because he was obsessed with the Beatles; he ended up winning five major trophies at Anfield.

A key member of Bill Shankly’s rebuild in the early 70s, Hall helped the Reds to First Division-UEFA Cup doubles in 1972/73 and 1975/76 – and FA Cup success in 1973/74.

Dubbed ‘Supersub’ for his knack of making a big impact from the bench, striker David Fairclough scored 55 goals in 154 outings for his hometown club.

Handed his debut as an 18-year-old by Bob Paisley in 1975, Fairclough was a First Division champion in his first season as a Reds first-team player – and he went on to win two further titles, as well as two European Cups, a UEFA Cup and a League Cup.

Having joined Liverpool’s youth set-up from that of QPR aged 15, Raheem Sterling broke into the Reds first team during the 2011/12 season and rapidly established himself as one of the most prodigious young talents around.

Voted the club’s Young Player of the Season in 2013/14 and 2014/15, played a starring role as Brendan Rodgers’ side came agonisingly close to winning the Premier League title during the first of those campaigns.

Dick Forshaw holds the distinction of being the only player to win league titles with both big Merseyside clubs.

A striker who scored 124 goals in 288 games for Liverpool, Forshaw helped the Reds to consecutive First Division crowns in 1921/22 and 1922/23 – playing every league match across those two campaigns – before becoming a top-flight champion for a third time at Everton in 1929/30.

Spotted while playing amateur football for nearby non-League outfit Prescot Cables, winger Alan A’Court made almost 400 appearances for Liverpool between 1953 and 1964 – helping them return to the top flight under Bill Shankly.

Capped five times by England – featuring at the 1958 World Cup – A’Court’s final Reds outing came on an historic occasion: the club’s first ever continental match at Anfield, a European Cup preliminary round tie against Icelandic side KR in September 1964.

Raised on a council estate in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton, Jimmy Case made his professional debut shortly before his 21st birthday.

A key player as the Reds won multiple First Division titles and European Cups during the latter part of the 70s and the early 80s, Case – who continued to work as an electrician early on in his career – became a firm fan favourite at Anfield.

Jack Balmer’s uncles Billy and Bob had both starred for Everton around the turn of the 20th century – but he spent his whole career with Liverpool, notching 110 goals in 309 outings as a striker.

Balmer was instrumental to the Reds’ 1946/47 First Division title triumph – scoring three successive hat-trick at one point during that season – and he took over the club captaincy the following campaign.

Long before he was jumping around like an excitable Jack Russell beside Sam Allardyce in the technical area, Sammy Lee won numerous major honours as a Liverpool player.

The tireless little midfielder joined his local club as an apprentice, making his first-team debut in 1978 and going on to feature almost 300 times in all – helping the Reds to four First Division titles, four League Cups and two European Cups.

A fine centre-half, Laurie Hughes made the switch from Tranmere Rovers to Liverpool as a teenager and spent his entire professional career at Anfield.

The three-cap England international – who was the first Reds player to appear at the World Cup, doing so in 1950 – featured 326 times for the club in total, starring in their 1946/47 First Division title win under George Kay.

Integral to Liverpool’s back-to-back top-flight title triumphs of the early 1920s, left half Tom Bromilow turned up at Anfield after being discharged from the army following the First World War and asked for a trial.

He got one – and he became one of the Reds’ greatest players of the interwar period, spending his whole career with the club and winning five caps for England.

In February 2015, a BBC reporter was interviewing Merseyside locals, asking if they remembered the 1967 FA Cup fifth round derby. “Yeah, I do,” said one man, smiling. “I played in it.”

That man was Tommy Lawrence, one of the Reds’ greatest goalkeepers – a three-time Scotland international who helped the Reds to two First Division titles and an FA Cup, earning the brilliant nickname of ‘The Flying Pig’ for his acrobatics which belied his 14-stone frame.

An important part of Liverpool’s success of the 60s and 70s, right-back Chris Lawler rose through the ranks to make 549 appearances for the Reds.

Capped four times by England, Lawler notched an impressive 61 goals during his 15-year stay at Anfield – despite not being a penalty taker – and was nicknamed ‘The Silent Knight’ for his quiet, straightforward approach to defending.

Anfield legend Ronnie Moran gave most of his life to Liverpool, retiring in 1998 as the club’s longest-serving employee – having worked as a coach, physio, kitman and, of course, a player.

A distinguished left-back, Moran captained Bill Shankly’s Reds during the 1959/60 campaign – then featured prominently as they won the 1961/62 Second Division and 1963/64 First Division titles, finishing his playing career as a one-club man with 379 appearances to his name.

In the space of barely five years, Trent Alexander-Arnold went from fresh-faced Liverpool academy starlet to one of the best full-backs in world football.

The Reds’ set-piece wizard was handed his senior debut by Jurgen Klopp in October 2016; by the end of the 2021/22 season, he had won every major trophy available and was well on his way to the 300-appearance mark for his boyhood club.

A childhood Everton fan, Jamie Carragher went on to become a one-club man at Liverpool, amassing 737 appearances across almost two decades.

Having started out as an attacking midfielder, Carragher – who represented England 38 times – established himself as a reliable centre-back and was one of the first names on the Reds teamsheet for many years, winning the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and – most notably of all – the Champions League in 2004/05.

Among the most gifted English players of his generation, Steve McManaman also grew up supporting Everton – but he joined Liverpool immediately after leaving school and made his first-team debut in 1990.

An FA Cup and League Cup winner with the Reds, the dribble-loving winger was the Premier League’s leading assist provider in 1995/96 and featured in the 1996/97 PFA Team of the Year; he left for Real Madrid in July 1999.

Undoubtedly one of Liverpool’s best players of all time, legendary left-back Gerry Byrne was a one-club man who helped the Reds restore former glories under Bill Shankly during the 60s.

A 1966 World Cup winner with England, Byrne famously starred in the 1965 FA Cup final victory over Leeds – breaking his collarbone early on but playing the whole match (which went to extra time) and setting up Roger Hunt’s opening goal.

When fans call you ‘God’, you’re doing something right – and Robbie Fowler gained that moniker thanks to his prolific goalscoring exploits in his first spell at Liverpool.

The Toxteth-born striker broke into the first team during the 1993/94 season and won back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year awards in 1995 and 1996.

Fowler scored 183 goals for the Reds overall and starred in their 2000/01 treble of FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

“Tommy Smith wasn’t born; he was quarried” – so said Bill Shankly of the notorious defensive hardman who starred for the Reds from 1962 to 1978.

Nicknamed ‘The Anfield Iron’, Smith struck fear into the hearts of his opponents and often left his mark quite literally – and it all contributed to him winning four First Division titles, two FA Cups, two European Cups and two UEFA Cups.

A veteran of almost 500 outings for Liverpool, Phil Thompson was among the standout English centre-backs of the 70s and early 80s – representing his country at the 1982 World Cup.

Picking up every major piece of silverware available as a Reds player, ‘Tommo’ formed a superb defensive partnership with Emlyn Hughes and remains a hugely popular figure at Anfield.

Immortalised in the words of classic Kop chant ‘Fields of Anfield Road’, Steve Heighway played an absolutely pivotal part in Liverpool’s dominance of the 70s.

An exceptional left-winger who was strong with both feet, the Irishman – a 26-time international – amassed 475 appearances for the Reds and assisted two goals in the 1978 European Cup final, as Bob Paisley’s team defeated Borussia Monchengladbach to bring the famous trophy to Anfield for the first time.

Liverpool’s all-time record appearance-maker, featuring a whopping 857 times between 1960 and 1978, Ian Callaghan’s name is etched indelibly into Reds history.

Voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1974, the four-cap England midfielder – a member of the Three Lions’ 1966 World Cup-winning squad – won it all during his long spell at Anfield, including back-to-back European Cups in the late 70s.

Born in Scotland, Billy Liddell played exclusively for Liverpool – and the devastating winger is regarded as nothing less than an icon at Anfield.

Ending his 15-year career with a record of 228 goals in 534 games for the Reds, the fantastically well-rounded Liddell burst into the scene in 1946 and was a regular throughout the 1946/47 First Division title triumph.

Between 1947/48 and 1958/59, he scored double figures in 10 out of 12 campaigns – passing the 30-goal mark in 1954/55 and 1955/56.

A veritable wonderkid when he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old in the late 90s, Michael Owen lived up to his potential by producing a string of superb seasons for Liverpool.

Ballon d’Or winner after starring in the Reds’ 2000/01 treble success – famously bagging a late brace to clinch FA Cup final victory over Arsenal – the scintillating striker shared the Premier League Golden Boot in 1997/98 and 1998/99 – before posting career-best returns of 28 goals in all competitions in 2001/02 and 2002/03.

Liverpool’s finest player of the modern era, Steven Gerrard idolised John Barnes and Ian Rush as a young Reds fan – and he went on to captain the club to some of their grandest triumphs of the 21st century.

The midfield maestro’s inspirational performances in the 2005 Champions League final against Milan – when he headed in the goal which sparked that comeback – and 2006 FA Cup final against West Ham – which he took to extra time with two stunning late strikes summed up the pride and determination with which he wore the armband.

Stevie G left Anfield for the LA Galaxy in 2016, having scored 185 goals in 710 appearances and made eight PFA Premier League Teams of the Year (he won both the young and senior versions of the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award).