As it is Independence Day over in the USA, I thought it’d be topical to take a look at any Americans who’ve played competitive games for Liverpool.
I headed to the brilliant LFCHistory.net and was quite surprised to find that only three American players have made a competitive appearance for The Reds.
1. Hugh Lester
Hugh Lester made just two league appearances for Liverpool back in 1912. He is described by LFC History as “a noted amateur sprinter with a time of 10.5 seconds for the 100 yards”. The American played as an outside-left, whatever that is…
2. Brad Friedel
When you think of Brad’s career at Liverpool, it’s always a case of what could have been. He showed at Blackburn, Aston Villa and Tottenham that he was a top class goalkeeper, but he never really did that for Liverpool.
Brad played as backup to David James for most of 1997/98, but eventually got a chance to start. He began the next season as starter too, but was dropped after a bad game versus Manchester United.
He played just four times the next season before he was sold to Blackburn.
3. Zak Whitbread
Zak Whitbread was a young centre-half who didn’t really make an impression at Liverpool. To be fair to him, he’d have had to have beaten out two Reds legends – Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia – to get into the team, and that was never going to happen.
Whitbread never made a league appearance for The Reds, and played in just seven cup games between 2004-2006, before his loan move to Millwall was made permanent.
Had things gone differently a few years ago, Clint Dempsey might have been added to this list, but that deal didn’t go through.
Who will be the next American to play for the Reds? Time will tell.
