It is obvious from an early age when certain footballers are destined for greatness.
Liverpool has been the home for a number of individuals who fall under this category, not least the club's greatest player of the modern era: Steven Gerrard.
A boyhood Red, Gerrard lived the dream of spending the vast majority of his career at Anfield before retiring from the game in 2016.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp confirms Thiago blow and four more Liverpool injury updates
Not every local lad stays put in Liverpool, however, as proved to be the case with Steve McManaman in 1999. The elegant midfielder was handed his first-team debut by the club in 1990 and quickly became a fan favourite courtesy of his dribbling and passing ability.
After his first experience at first-team level against Sheffield United, though he would have to wait a further eight months for a full start, which arrived on the opening day of the 1991/92 campaign. Speaking after this game, then Reds boss Graeme Souness said of the youngster: "He has the chance to be one of the great players."
The longer McManaman's career at the club went on, the more likely it seemed this statement would come true. A turning point arrived for the Englishman following the appointment of Roy Evans in 1994, which saw him handed more license to roam the midfield as opposed to staying out wide on the wings.
A statement performance during the 1995 League Cup final was on the agenda as McManaman scored twice to help overcome Bolton Wanderers and the goals continued to flow in the following three seasons, the now 51-year-old reaching double figures in each.
His time at Liverpool eventually came to an end towards the end of the 1998/99 season, having signed a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid as he entered the final months of his Anfield deal. A number of theories have since emerged regarding McManaman's exit from the club, with some suggesting Evans' departure from the club in November 1998 as a reason for his desire to move on as others argued it simply came down to finances.
Attempting to set the record straight on his transfer to the Spanish capital back in 2016, he said: “It wasn’t financial, because the money Liverpool offered me to stay was virtually on a par. I wanted to leave. At that time I had never played in the Champions League, which was a huge thing. I was playing really good football and I needed to test myself. I felt that I needed to go.
"I wanted to go abroad, I didn’t want to play for somebody against Liverpool. I was playing good football and I had the right kind of clubs interested in me – Barcelona, Madrid and Juventus. I nearly went to Italy. I was taking Italian lessons that year, I’d spoken to Ian Rush and David Platt. But December/January came around, and Madrid were interested.
“They were European Champions, World Champions, they were the best team in the world. That white kit, Di Stefano, Puskas, all that. And so it was Madrid."
Sharing further insight into the details behind the deal taking place, McManaman suggested on the Robbie Fowler Podcast a sense of feeling unappreciated played a factor in his decision to seek a new challenge.
“I was getting to the end of my Liverpool contract. I felt Liverpool were very slow in coming to me with a new deal. As it got on, two years, a year and a half, a year to go of the contract, I just felt that the opportunity now to play abroad – which I’d always wanted to do, I was always thinking about doing – was more prevalent than ever. I felt that the Liverpool team I was playing in, if you look back, and I’ve said this on numerous occasions, I hadn’t played in the Champions League at that time," he said.
“My football was very good in 1996, 97, 98 and I felt I just wanted to be playing at a higher level than I was at Liverpool. I felt that Liverpool were on the cusp of a change which was proven right when Gerard Houllier came in without anyone telling Roy Evans about it and I just felt it was the time to leave.
"It’s different now. Contract situations are very different now. I always felt that the Liverpool lads or the younger players were treated very differently. I was arguably the best player in the team at the time and I was possibly the worst-paid in the team at the time. Some players had come in and earned two, three four times more than me. I didn’t have an agent at Liverpool so I was never chasing, I was always leaving it up to them and you always felt that they thought ‘he’s a local lad, he’ll be ok’ and it certainly wasn’t the case with me.
“When they came with their contract offer first it was a case of trying to get everybody in the room. It’s only me, I’m available 24 hours a day, I can easily come to Anfield, just let me know. I think I got told we’ll have a meeting in September and the meeting happened in April – and the meeting lasted four seconds.
“We’re going to offer you this, we’re going to offer you that, and I just said ‘no thank you’ and then that was it. I think they realised then, this is not good enough. Of course subsequently their offers got bigger and bigger and bigger as it got to the end and it was like ‘why didn’t you offer me this deal when we had this first meeting and it might have been a different scenario’ but I was well on my way then of thinking that they’re not really appreciating me, I’m still playing well, the team is changing a little bit.”
Criticism came the way of McManaman on the back of his Madrid move, though Jamie Carragher defended his former team-mate when addressing the subject in his autobiography published in 2009, stating: "Despite being accused of greed, Macca also lost money to secure the move. He was one of the lowest earners at Anfield (for years), despite being the top player, because he'd refused to sign a new contract. Financially he took a big risk, putting his career before money. I respect him for that."
McManaman would go on to win two La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues during his time with Los Blancos, leaving the club for Manchester City in 2003.
READ NEXT:
- Fabinho could switch position to relight Liverpool spark and shock Everton
- Jurgen Klopp admission gives the game away over three missing Liverpool players
Full recap of everything Jurgen Klopp said in his press conference for Everton
Jurgen Klopp has repeated biggest transfer mistake despite Liverpool midfield crisis
Liverpool confirm European Super League stance after new proposals emerge
