28th June

Forwards in and out
2016 – Forward Sadio Mané signed from Southampton for an initial £30m. He proved a big success at Anfield, notching 120 times in 269 outings across his six campaigns, including netting in the UEFA Champions League Final in Kyiv as well as helping us to claim the Premier League title, UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and League Cup. He moved on to Bayern München for an initial €32m in June 2022.
2022 – Japanese forward Takumi Minamino was sold to AS Monaco for an initial €15m, having scored fourteen goals in 55 reds outings since arriving from Red Bull Salzburg for £7.25m in January 2020, helping us to claim the League title and head towards two cup victories at Wembley

Abel in hot water
2000 - Abel Xavier won his fifteenth full international cap as Portugal lost 2-1 to France in their Euro 2000 Semi-final in Brussels. The winning golden goal was a hotly disputed penalty awarded against Abel, and he protested so vehemently that he was subsequently banned from European football for nine months by UEFA. As he was then an Everton player, this punishment did not affect him too badly! Nicolas Anelka won his final cap as a Real Madrid player in the same game.

Stan reaches fifty
1994 - Ex-red Steve Staunton won his fiftieth cap for the Republic of Ireland in their goalless World Cup encounter with Norway at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey, which secured their place in the Second Round. Stig Inge Bjørnebye and Ronnie Whelan also played, as did ex-reds John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, along with future reds Phil Babb, Øyvind Leonhardsen and Jason McAteer. This was Whelan’s last cap as a reds player. On the same day, future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel played as Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw by Sweden in Pontiac.

SteG stays put
2004 - Steven Gerrard gave a press conference to announce that he would not be leaving Anfield to join Chelsea, as had been much touted during the Euro 2004 tournament. “The last three or four weeks have been really confusing and for the first time in my career I thought about moving on. But I have gone with the decision that is in my heart and that is to stay with Liverpool. I love the club," he said.

Bruno departs
2005 - Bruno Cheyrou joined Girondins de Bordeaux on loan, having struck five times in 48 reds games since signing from Lille OSC Métropole for £3.7m three years earlier. He helped them to finish second in Ligue 1 in his first season back in France, striking once in 26 outings.
1951 – Scottish left-winger Tommy McLeod signed for Chesterfield. He had joined the reds from the Army in October 1945, but only made seven senior appearances.

Vlad’s shotgun wedding
1996 - Future red Vladimír Šmicer got married. He flew back to the Czech Republic from Euro ‘96, postponing his wedding night and honeymoon to return in time to feature in the Final at Wembley two days later.

To the final
2012 – Future red Mario Balotelli bagged a brace as Italy beat Germany 2-1 in their Euro 2012 Semi-final in Poland.
2005 - Future red Gabriel Paletta played for Argentina Under-20’s as they beat Brazil 2-1 in the Semi-final of the World Championship Finals in Utrecht. On the same day, Nabil El Zhar was on the losing side as Nigeria beat Morocco 3-0 in Kerkrade to ensure they would face Argentina in the Final.

Ambassador Jones
2002 - Ex-red Joey Jones was made an ambassador of Wrexham Football Club. In addition to his existing role as reserve team coach, he was also appointed Head of Youth Development. Wrexham boss Denis Smith said, “It would not be Wrexham Football Club without Joey around and so it was important that he stayed with us.”

Keetley born
1897 - Joe Keetley was born in Derby, going on to play League football like eight of his ten brothers. He signed from Accrington Stanley in November 1923 for £1,200 and struck twice in nine reds games before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers in May 1925.
1988 – Bulgarian keeper Nikolay Mihaylov was born in Sofia. He signed from Levski Sofia in July 2007, but work permit problems meant that he spent his reds career on loan with Twente in the Netherlands before joining them permanently for €1.8m in February 2010.

Momo signs on
2007 - Momo Sissoko signed a new contract until 2011. However, he was sold to Juventus for £8.2m in January 2008, after one goal in 87 reds games.

Bernie’s final cap
1998 - Future red Bernard Diomède won his eighth and final cap in France’s 1-0 defeat of Paraguay in Lens to reach the World Cup Quarter-final.
2018 – Trent Alexander-Arnold played as England lost 1-0 to Belgium in Kaliningrad, but still progressed to the next stage of the World Cup. Meanwhile, Sadio Mané played in Senegal’s 1-0 defeat to Colombia that ensured they failed to get out of their group.

2010 – Dirk Kuyt and future reds coach John Heitinga played for the Netherlands as they beat Martin Škrtel’s Slovakia 2-1 in Durban to reach the World Cup Quarter-final, while ex-red Mark González featured as Chile lost 3-0 to Brazil in Johannesburg.
2001 – Heitinga again represented his country in their 2-0 defeat of Angola in the World Championship Finals at Under-20’s level in Argentina.

On the move
2000 - David Burrows signed for Birmingham City from Coventry City on a free transfer. He only played thirty times for the Blues, moving on again to Sheffield Wednesday in March 2002.
2010 - Anthony Le Tallec joined Auxerre from Le Mans UC 72 for €3m. He struck twenty times in 102 outings for the side from Burgundy, moving on to Auxerre in June 2010 after they were relegated.
2012 – Ex-reserves defender David Raven signed for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, having been released by Tranmere Rovers at the end of the previous campaign.
2013 - Djibril Cissé was released by Queens Park Rangers, moving on to Russian side Kuban Krasnodar the following month.

2016 - The appointment of the reds’ former Head of Fitness & Conditioning Ryland Morgans as Performance Director of Cardiff City was announced.
2019 – Ryan Babel signed for Galatasaray, scoring five times in twenty outings before re-joining Ajax on loan. On the same day, Darren Potter joined Tranmere Rovers from Rotherham United on a free transfer, while keeper Daniele Padelli signed a new contract with Internazionale.
2023 – Centre-half Rhys Williams joined Aberdeen on loan, only making one senior appearance for the Dons. On the same day, ex-reserves forward Davd Amoo signed for Ebbsfleet United, failing to score in thirteen outings in his first campaign with the National League side.

Dioufy in all-star team
2002 - New signing El-Hadji Diouf was named in FIFA’s sixteen-strong all-star World Cup team.

On target
2022 - Jarell Quansah scored for England Under-19’s as they beat Italy 2-1 to reach the European Championships Final in Slovakia, with clubmate Luke Chambers also featuring.
2023 – Harvey Elliott bagged his first goal for England Under-21’s as they beat Germany 2-0 in a European Championships Finals group game in Georgia. Vítězslav Jaroš and ex-red Liam Millar also featured in internationals that day.

Other internationals in action
2007 - Javier Mascherano played for Argentina in their 4-1 defeat of the USA in a Copa América group game in Venezuela.
2009 – Xabi Alonso was on target while winning his final cap as a reds player in Spain’s 3-2 extra-time victory over South Africa in the Confederations Cup Third-place play-off in Rustenburg. Álvaro Arbeloa also won his last cap while on our books, with Albert Riera and Fernando Torres both also featuring.
2019 - Future red Luis Díaz played as Colombia lost a penalty shoot-out to Chile in São Paulo after their Copa América Quarter-final ended goalless.
2021 – Xherdan Shaqiri featured as Switzerland beat France on penalties after their European Championships Finals Round of 16 tie ended 3-3 in Bucharest. Meanwhile, ex-reds Sebastián Coates and Luis Suárez both played as Uruguay beat Paraguay 1-0 in a Copa América group game in Rio de Janeiro.

Marsh in charge
2003 - Mike Marsh was appointed Manager of Unibond League side Burscough. He only stayed in the job for just over three months before stepping down.