1967-1996
Emlyn Hughes
21st birthday: 28.08.1968
The only man to captain the Reds to two European Cup wins in 1977 and 1978, Emlyn Hughes was 19 when Bill Shankly signed him from Blackpool FC and the LFC boss drove him away from Bloomfield Road himself. It was an eventful journey as a car shunted into the back of Shankly's car, who was then stopped by a policeman for having broken lights. “Do you know who's in this car?” said Shankly when told he couldn't continue the journey. “I've got the future captain of England alongside me.” An enthusiastic midfielder who later played in defence, Hughes went straight into Shankly's team and in his fifth appearance earned his 'Crazy Horse' nickname for rugby tackling Newcastle United FC's Albert Bennett. Emlyn made 72 appearances, scoring twice, before he was 21 and over the next decade won 10 major honours in a glittering Reds career.
Alun Evans
21st birthday: 30.09.1970
Alun Evans became English football's most expensive teenager when Bill Shankly signed him from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC for £100,000 a fortnight before his 20th birthday in September 1968. The kid with the blond Beatles haircut made a sensational start to his Liverpool FC career, netting on his debut in a 4-0 win against Leicester City FC at Anfield and scoring a double in a 6-0 success at former club Wolves a week later. Goals in home wins against Manchester United FC and Newcastle United FC soon followed and by the time he turned 21 in September 1970 he'd struck 23 goals in 77 appearances for the Reds. It ultimately didn't work out for Evans at Liverpool FC and after losing his place to Kevin Keegan in 1971 he was sold to Aston Villa FC in 1972.
Kevin Keegan
21st birthday: 14.02.1972
Kevin Keegan's best days at Liverpool FC came long after his 21st birthday with three league titles, one European Cup, two UEFA Cups and an FA Cup all won between 1973 and 1977, but the man who made the no.7 shirt famous also made an impact in the 28 games he played for LFC as a 20-year-old. Signed from Scunthorpe United FC in 1971, Keegan took just 12 minutes of his Liverpool FC debut to score at the Kop end against Nottingham Forest FC, converting a pass from strike-partner John Toshack. It was the first of 100 goals 'Mighty Mouse' scored for the Reds – seven of them coming before he turned 21 – and convinced Bill Shankly he was ready for the step-up from Scunthorpe United FC to Liverpool FC.
Phil Thompson
21st birthday: 21.01.1975
Phil Thompson both stood on the Spion Kop watching Liverpool FC and played for the Club when he was a teenager. The Kirkby-born centre-back signed for LFC when he was 17 in January 1971 and made his debut aged 18 in a 3-0 win against Manchester United FC at Old Trafford. Thompson wasn't a regular in 1972/73, but played enough games to receive a league winners' medal and was on the bench in the UEFA Cup final success against Borussia VfL 1900 Mönchengladbach. He made 51 appearances in 1973/74, including in the FA Cup final win against Newcastle United at Wembley, and 91 of his 477 games in a red shirt came before he was 21. Thommo won 14 major honours at Anfield and in 1981 captained the Reds to glory in the 1-0 European Cup final victory against Real Madrid CF in Paris.
David Fairclough
21st birthday: 05.01.1978
Liverpool FC were battling Queens Park Rangers FC for the 1975/76 league title when Bob Paisley unleashed Scouse striker David Fairclough on the First Division. He was 18 when making his debut against Middlesbrough FC, but it was the four goals he scored as a 19-year-old against Norwich City FC (1-0), Burnley FC (2-0) and Everton FC (1-0), that eventually proved to be decisive as the Reds became champions. He grabbed five goals from the bench that season, earning the nickname 'supersub', and the following year, at the age of 20, came on to score one of Anfield's most famous European goals to beat AS Saint-Etienne in the 1977 European Cup quarter-final. Fairclough netted 23 of his 55 LFC goals before he was 21, won two league titles, one European Cup, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup. No player under the age of 21 has won more in a red shirt.
Ronnie Whelan
21st birthday: 25.09.82
Dublin-born Whelan was signed from Home Farm FC for just £35,000 the week before his 18th birthday in September 1979. After two years of development by Bob Paisley he was brought into the team shortly after he turned 20, as the successor to Ray Kennedy on the left of midfield, and quickly developed a knack of scoring in big games. There is no better example than when 20-year-old Whelan netted an 87th minute equaliser in the 1982 League Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur FC at Wembley and then put the Reds ahead in extra-time. His double in that 3-1 victory earned him the nickname 'the Milk Cup kid' (after the League Cup sponsors of the time) and he ended 1981/82 by scoring the goal that effectively won the league title for LFC with another 3-1 win against Spurs. Including the two goals he got against Southampton FC on his 21st birthday, 19 of Whelan's 73 Liverpool FC strikes came in the early stages of his career and he went on to win 12 major honours, including captaining the Reds in the 1989 FA Cup final win against Everton FC.
Jamie Redknapp
21st birthday: 25.06.1994
Kenny Dalglish made Jamie Redknapp the most expensive 17-year-old in football when he paid AFC Bournemouth, managed by dad Harry Redknapp, £350,000 for the midfielder's services in January 1991. Redknapp never got to play under Sir Kenny, who resigned five weeks later, but was handed his league debut as a substitute by Graeme Souness at Southampton FC in October 1991. Jamie scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw just nine minutes after coming on. He soon established himself as a regular ahead of more senior central midfielders and made 91 appearances, contributing eight goals, before his 21st birthday. Redknapp later went on to captain Liverpool FC, appearing 306 times in total, and only three players have reached 100 league appearances for LFC at a younger age.
