15th July

In comes Spud
1997 - Danny Murphy arrived from Crewe Alexandra for an overall £3m fee. Spud was nearly on his way out early into his Anfield career, but later established himself as a vital squad member. He made 249 first-team appearances, scoring a useful 44 times, before moving to Charlton Athletic for £2.5m in August 2004. He had helped us to claim the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, League Cup and FA Charity Shield in his time at the club.

Double capture
2011 – Winger Stewart Downing signed from Aston Villa for £18.5m, while keeper Alexander Doni joined on a free transfer from Roma. Downing netted seven times in 91 outings before moving to West Ham United for £6m in August 2013, as well as scoring in the shoot-out as we claimed the Carling Cup at Wembley in 2012. Doni featured four times before joining Botafogo in his native Brazil in January 2013 having apparently suffered a heart attack during a routine medical in the summer of 2012.

Final despair
2018 – Dejan Lovren played in the World Cup Final in Moscow, with France beating Croatia 4-2.
2007 - Javier Mascherano was on the losing side in the Copa América Final, as Argentina were beaten 3-0 by future red Alexander Doni’s Brazil in Venezuela. Meanwhile, Emiliano Insúa featured as Argentina Under-20’s beat Mexico 1-0 in the Quarter-final of the World Championships in Ottawa.

Off goes Igor
2005 - Igor Bišcan signed for Panathinaikos after 118 reds games. The big Croat netted three times as he helped us to the Worthington Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Charity Shield in 2001, the Worthington Cup again two years later, as well as playing a key role on the road to Istanbul. He had arrived from Dinamo Zagreb for £5.5m in December 2000.

1969 – Keeper John Ogston moved on to Doncaster Rovers, after a successful loan spell. He signed from his hometown club Aberdeen for £10,000 in September 1965 having played over 200 games for the Dons, but only appeared once for the reds.

Other arrivals
1989 – Swedish centre-half Glenn Hysén signed from Fiorentina for £600,000. He went on to make 93 appearances, notching three times and helping us to our most recent title win in 1990, as well as the FA Charity Shield on his debut. He returned to his hometown to sign for GAIS in May 1992.
2014 - Serbian winger Lazar Marković signed from SL Benfica for £19.8m. He struck three times in 34 games before spending much of his time out on loan, moving on to Fulham for free in February 2019.

Bellers off the mark
2006 - Paul Anderson and Craig Bellamy both scored in their first reds games as we won a friendly 2-0 at Wrexham. Also making their first senior appearances that day were Godwin Antwi, Danny Guthrie, Adam Hammill, Jack Hobbs, Besian Idrizaj, David Martin, Danny O'Donnell, Gabriel Paletta, Lee Peltier, Miki Roqué, James Smith and Robbie Threlfall.

Keeping bows
2022 – Custodians Harvey Davies and Fabian Mrozek both played their first reds games as we beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to secure the Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy 2022, thanks to goals from Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah.

More reds firsts
2009 - Keeper Péter Gulácsi, right-back Glen Johnson and centre-backs Daniel Ayala and Mikel San José all made their reds bows as we were held to a goalless draw in our friendly with St. Gallen 1879 in their AFG Arena in Switzerland.

Beaten again
2020 – Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium behind closed doors, as we fell to only our third League defeat of the season. Sadio Mané opened the scoring, but Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson both capitalised on reds errors to give the Gunners a half-time lead, which they held on to despite a second-half siege by the visitors.

Bonne anniversaire
1981 - French midfielder Alou Diarra was born in Villepinte. After his free transfer from Bayern München in July 2002, he spent three seasons on loan in France, first at Le Havre AC, and then at Bastia and Racing Club de Lens, who he signed permanently for in June 2005. His only appearance in a red shirt came in a friendly win in Le Havre, when he enjoyed the rare distinction of returning to the pitch after having been substituted, as a replacement for Vegard Heggem.

Suso the champion
2012 – Suso featured as Spain Under-19’s beat Greece 1-0 in the European Championships Final in Estonia.
2016 – Future red Dominic Solanke scored for England Under-19’s as they beat the Netherlands 2-1 in a group stage game in Germany, with Sheyi Ojo and Jordan Rossiter also in action. This was his second and last strike at this level.

Stevie signs on again
2013 – Steven Gerrard signed a new contract to tie him to the club until 2015. He struck 186 times in 710 reds games, moving on to LA Galaxy in July 2015, before returning to the reds on the Academy staff.

Redders in charge
1999 - It was confirmed that Jamie Redknapp would take over from the departed Paul Ince as reds captain. Robbie Fowler was appointed as his deputy. Unfortunately, much of his time as skipper was blighted by injury.

Another birth and death
1920 - Keeper Ray Minshull was born in Bolton. He spent most of his five years at Anfield as deputy to Cyril Sidlow, making just 31 first-team appearances after joining the reds in September 1946. He left for Southport in June 1951, playing more than 200 times for them, and later became Player/Manager at Wigan Athletic.
1953 – Forward Dave Wright died. He bagged 35 goals in exactly a century of reds games after signing from Sunderland in March 1930. He remained at Anfield until July 1934, when he joined Hull City for £1,000.

On the move
2003 – Future reds right-back Glen Johnson joined Chelsea from West Ham United for £6m, becoming the first signing of the Roman Abramovich era. He bagged four goals in 71 outings before joining Portsmouth in August 2006, initially on loan. On the same day, ex-reds reserves defender Alex Watson left basement side Exeter City for nearby Southern League side Taunton Town after one goal in 51 outings since signing on free transfer from Torquay United two years earlier.
1997 - Ex-red Ray Houghton signed for Reading from Crystal Palace on a free transfer. He struck just once in 56 appearances in his two seasons with the Royals before moving on to Stevenage Borough.
2016 – Ex-reds right-back Antonio Barragán joined Middlesbrough from Valencia, playing 27 times as they were relegated in his only campaign on Teesside, moving on to Real Betis Balompié in July 2017.

1993 - Ex-reserves striker John Durnin joined Portsmouth from Oxford United for £200,000, four years after moving to the Manor Ground from Anfield. He bagged just 33 goals in his 207 appearances for Pompey before moving on to Carlisle United on a free transfer.
2006 - Former reserves defender Gareth Roberts signed for Doncaster Rovers from Tranmere Rovers. He netted eight times in 165 games for his new club helping them to reach and remain in the Championship, before moving on to Derby County in July 2010.
2019 – Left-back Joe Maguire signed for Accrington Stanley, playing seventeen times before being released in May 2021.

Also in international action
1991 – Future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel played for Brazil in their 3-1 defeat of Ecuador in a Copa América group game in Chile.
2001 – Future red Kolo Touré played as the Ivory Coast drew a World Cup qualifier 1-1 in Congo.
2004 – Arnaud Bühler appeared for Switzerland Under-19’s in their 2-0 defeat of Belgium in a European Championship Finals group game in Aarau.
2011 – Future red Mohamed Salah represented Egypt Under-20’s as they won a friendly 1-0 in Costa Rica.