Steve McManaman

Steve McManaman

McManaman in March 2014
Personal information
Full name	Steven McManaman
Date of birth	(1972-02-11) 11 February 1972 (age 45)
Place of birth	Kirkdale, Lancashire, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Winger
Youth career
1988–1990	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1999	Liverpool	272	(46)
1999–2003	Real Madrid	94	(8)
2003–2005	Manchester City	35	(0)
Total		401	(54)
National team
1991–1993	England U21	7	(1)
1994–2001	England	37	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Steven "Steve" McManaman (born 11 February 1972) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder, winger and playmaker for Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester City. McManaman is the most decorated English footballer to have played for a club abroad, with the UEFA website stating that "of all England's footballing exports in the modern era, none was as successful as McManaman". He is a regular pundit on BT Sport football coverage.

After nine years at Liverpool, during which time he won the FA Cup and League Cup, McManaman moved to Real Madrid in 1999. The transfer became one of the most controversial and high-profile Bosman rulings of all time. He became the first English player to win the UEFA Champions League with a non-English club in 2000, and two years later became the first English player to win the Champions League twice. He also won La Liga twice before moving to Manchester City in 2003 and retiring from football in 2005. After his retirement, he worked as a football pundit for Setanta Sports, ESPN and BT Sport. In 2008, he was ranked third in a Top 10 of the greatest British footballers to play overseas, just behind Kevin Keegan and John Charles.

McManaman grew up as an Everton supporter, but when Everton offered the player a one-year contract (after McManaman had made a name for himself at tournaments for school and around Merseyside), McManaman's father rejected it in favour of a schoolboy contract and two-year apprenticeship offer from Liverpool. McManaman signed as a 16-year-old apprentice upon leaving school in 1988. As an apprentice, McManaman was under the mentoring of John Barnes whom he was being groomed to replace. A natural athlete and cross country champion at school level (once beating Curtis Robb), he developed through the youth scheme at Liverpool and signed as a full professional on 19 February 1990 in what was to be Kenny Dalglish's final full season as manager. He made his Liverpool debut under Dalglish as a substitute for Peter Beardsley in the Football League First Division on 15 December 1990, in a 2–0 league win over Sheffield United at Anfield, and made his full debut in a 2–1 win over Oldham Athletic the following season, when Graeme Souness had become the new manager. He scored his first ever professional goal with a diving header four days later on 21 August 1991 in the 2–1 defeat to Manchester City at Maine Road.