Liverpool FC has been blessed with dozens of talented footballers over the years, many of whom came from abroad to dazzle Anfield with sublime skills and superb technique.
The history of overseas footballers at Liverpool starts way back in 1926, with the debut of one of the club's greatest ever goal-scorers – South African Gordon Hodgson. With a superb record of 241 goals in 358 games, Hodgson is second only to Roger Hunt in the all-time LFC league goals chart.
The South African connection continued with the arrival of goalkeeper Arthur Riley and Berry ‘Nivvy’ Nieuwenhuys, a tricky winger blessed with speed and guile.
In pre-war England, overseas players were almost unheard of in the top division, so Liverpool were pace-setters and pioneers in this respect. However, after Nieuwenhuys left Liverpool in 1947, it was (incredibly) 34 years until another overseas player made an impact at Anfield.
That man was Bruce Grobbelaar, who despite a shaky start between the sticks, won the league title with Liverpool in his first season. Three years later, supremely talented Dane Jan Molby arrived at the club, and proceeded to play a major part in Liverpool’s domination of the 80s.
Other overseas players began to trickle in after that, with notable arrivals including Aussie cult hero Craig Johnstone; Israeli powerhouse Ronnie Rosenthal; Elegant Swedish International Glenn Hysen and criminally underrated Norwegian assist specialist Stig Inge Bjornebye.
Over the last 10 years, the number of overseas players at the club has increased at a faster rate than at any time in history, with players such as Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann playing hugely important roles in Liverpool’s continuing success.
Here is my greatest ever Liverpool World XI:
---------------------------------- Bruce Grobbelaar
Markus Babbel -- Stephane Henchoz -- Sami Hyppia (c) – Stig Inge Bjornebye
----------------------------------- Dietmar Hamann
------------ Jan Molby -------------Xabi Alonso -------- Patrik Berger
------------------------------- Jari Litmanen
-------------------------------------------- Fernando Torres
Subs:
Jose Reina
Glenn Hysen
Craig Johnstone
Berry Nieuwenhuys
Gordon Hodgson
Ronnie Rosenthal
The team would play a 4-1-3-1-1 formation, with Dietmar Hamann sitting in front of the back four, allowing Xabi Alonso, Jan Molby and the superb Jari Litmanen to utilize their prodigious passing ability to feed Fernando Torres, who would be overwhelmed by the amount of scoring chances created for him!
Patrick Berger and Stig Inge Bjornebye would provide width on the left, whipping in crosses for Torres and Litmanen. Some may see Bjornebye as a surprise inclusion, but in the mid 90s, the norwegian was regularly top of the club’s assists chart and was a model of consistency.
And who can forget the sublime cross he provided for Robbie Fowler to score the winner in the second 4-3 Newcastle thriller in 1997?
Markus Babbel would provide bombing runs down the right, adding an extra level of creative impetus, which would then give the team two strong attacking full-backs.
Central defence is a no-brainer; it has to be Stephane ‘hand-ball’ Henchoz and Finland’s finest export, Sami Hyypia. Before Jamie Carragher came on the scene, the Henchoz/Hyypia partnership was quite simply the best in the league.
Henchoz was unceremoniously dumped by Gerard Houllier, but the legend that is Sami Hyypia is still going strong and still playing brilliantly, despite being written off repeatedly by fans and the press.
The substitutes bench is filled with players who would come on change the game and/or help the team change shape to counter any tactical eventuality. Special mention has to go to powerful, athletic Israeli Ronnie Rosenthal.
Few can forget the impact Rosenthal had when he arrived in the final months of the 89-90 season - scoring a hat-trick on his full debut and going on to score 7 goals in 8 games - goals which were vital to Liverpool securing the title.
The team I have chosen would be a joy to watch and would give any team in Liverpool’s history a run for its money!
NB. This is a team composed of OVERSEAS players, i.e. NON UK players. I just wanted to clarify that as someone slated me in an email for not including Scottish/Irish players. It's quite clear from the opening paragraphs that this is an overseas team, but people will do their best to snipe.
One other thing: Just because I've never seen Berry Niewenhuys play doesn't mean I can't include him in the team. What spurious logic! A huge propertion of Liverpool fans never saw the likes of Dalglish or Souness play but that doesn't stop them putting these players in the their best ever team.
I've researched the player, and based on that, I include him my team. If you don't like it, tough.
The history of overseas footballers at Liverpool starts way back in 1926, with the debut of one of the club's greatest ever goal-scorers – South African Gordon Hodgson. With a superb record of 241 goals in 358 games, Hodgson is second only to Roger Hunt in the all-time LFC league goals chart.
The South African connection continued with the arrival of goalkeeper Arthur Riley and Berry ‘Nivvy’ Nieuwenhuys, a tricky winger blessed with speed and guile.
In pre-war England, overseas players were almost unheard of in the top division, so Liverpool were pace-setters and pioneers in this respect. However, after Nieuwenhuys left Liverpool in 1947, it was (incredibly) 34 years until another overseas player made an impact at Anfield.
That man was Bruce Grobbelaar, who despite a shaky start between the sticks, won the league title with Liverpool in his first season. Three years later, supremely talented Dane Jan Molby arrived at the club, and proceeded to play a major part in Liverpool’s domination of the 80s.
Other overseas players began to trickle in after that, with notable arrivals including Aussie cult hero Craig Johnstone; Israeli powerhouse Ronnie Rosenthal; Elegant Swedish International Glenn Hysen and criminally underrated Norwegian assist specialist Stig Inge Bjornebye.
Over the last 10 years, the number of overseas players at the club has increased at a faster rate than at any time in history, with players such as Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann playing hugely important roles in Liverpool’s continuing success.
Here is my greatest ever Liverpool World XI:
---------------------------------- Bruce Grobbelaar
Markus Babbel -- Stephane Henchoz -- Sami Hyppia (c) – Stig Inge Bjornebye
----------------------------------- Dietmar Hamann
------------ Jan Molby -------------Xabi Alonso -------- Patrik Berger
------------------------------- Jari Litmanen
-------------------------------------------- Fernando Torres
Subs:
Jose Reina
Glenn Hysen
Craig Johnstone
Berry Nieuwenhuys
Gordon Hodgson
Ronnie Rosenthal
The team would play a 4-1-3-1-1 formation, with Dietmar Hamann sitting in front of the back four, allowing Xabi Alonso, Jan Molby and the superb Jari Litmanen to utilize their prodigious passing ability to feed Fernando Torres, who would be overwhelmed by the amount of scoring chances created for him!
Patrick Berger and Stig Inge Bjornebye would provide width on the left, whipping in crosses for Torres and Litmanen. Some may see Bjornebye as a surprise inclusion, but in the mid 90s, the norwegian was regularly top of the club’s assists chart and was a model of consistency.
And who can forget the sublime cross he provided for Robbie Fowler to score the winner in the second 4-3 Newcastle thriller in 1997?
Markus Babbel would provide bombing runs down the right, adding an extra level of creative impetus, which would then give the team two strong attacking full-backs.
Central defence is a no-brainer; it has to be Stephane ‘hand-ball’ Henchoz and Finland’s finest export, Sami Hyypia. Before Jamie Carragher came on the scene, the Henchoz/Hyypia partnership was quite simply the best in the league.
Henchoz was unceremoniously dumped by Gerard Houllier, but the legend that is Sami Hyypia is still going strong and still playing brilliantly, despite being written off repeatedly by fans and the press.
The substitutes bench is filled with players who would come on change the game and/or help the team change shape to counter any tactical eventuality. Special mention has to go to powerful, athletic Israeli Ronnie Rosenthal.
Few can forget the impact Rosenthal had when he arrived in the final months of the 89-90 season - scoring a hat-trick on his full debut and going on to score 7 goals in 8 games - goals which were vital to Liverpool securing the title.
The team I have chosen would be a joy to watch and would give any team in Liverpool’s history a run for its money!
NB. This is a team composed of OVERSEAS players, i.e. NON UK players. I just wanted to clarify that as someone slated me in an email for not including Scottish/Irish players. It's quite clear from the opening paragraphs that this is an overseas team, but people will do their best to snipe.
One other thing: Just because I've never seen Berry Niewenhuys play doesn't mean I can't include him in the team. What spurious logic! A huge propertion of Liverpool fans never saw the likes of Dalglish or Souness play but that doesn't stop them putting these players in the their best ever team.
I've researched the player, and based on that, I include him my team. If you don't like it, tough.
