Liverpool Lore: A look at your favourite Liverpool players’ favourite player, John Barnes
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Emerging toward the end of Liverpool’s UK dominance, he’s regarded by a generation as the best attacker to play in Red.In a time where superstars were ten a penny in the Liverpool squad, with names like Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen, Barnes regularly outshone them all and was one of the few players to do it for England as well.John Barnes, Liverpool legendJohn Barnes joined Liverpool in 1987, quite a time to join Liverpool, really. It was unheard of for your left midfielder to be joining every attack, never mind driving at the defence every chance he got.John Barnes and Peter Beardsley Liverpool League Title Winners 1990 | Getty Images/GettyImagesDuring his 10 years at the club, he amassed a whopping 406 appearances, putting him 25th in our all-time list.
Numbers not to be sniffed at.Collecting 8 trophies during his time at Anfield and being pivotal to that success will keep him in high regard forever.There is a reason why John Barnes consistently makes Liverpool all-time XI’s and not just from the fans, either.Liverpool and football legends regularly praise Barnes’ abilities and playstyle. Potentially the highest praise you could have been given at the time in football.Jamie Carragher is never shy about proclaiming Barnes as one of his favourite players of all-time, a player he grew up worshipping.
He did it for his country, too.John Barnes shined for EnglandBorn in Kingston, Jamaica, Barnes moved to England when he was 12 years old. He then casually and calmly slots it past the keeper, leaving the stadium in disbelief.One of England’s greatest goals, soon to be marred by comments of certain groups of English fans saying that the goal didn’t count, as it was scored by Barnes, and therefore the result was 1-0.For a man to give everything for the country he’s representing and to do it at such a high level for so long, it’s almost criminal for the person not to be lauded and praised for every positive move he makes in that shirt.Luckily, Barnes’ actions would always echo louder than their words, and he’d continue to put in elite performance after elite performance.John Barnes | David Cannon/GettyImagesWhilst the England system didn’t fully suit him at times, he still racked up 79 appearances and scored 10 times for his country.