Liverpool let 'greatest goalscorer' slip through their fingers after daily training ground rows

Brisbane Roar head coach Robbie Fowler

Robbie Fowler is a Liverpool legend and one of the club’s most popular homegrown players ever.

Enjoying two stints with the Reds in the nineties and noughties, he scored 183 goals from 369 appearances for the club.

Before Mohamed Salah came along, he was Liverpool’s record Premier League scorer.

And with 114 of his goals for the Reds coming when aged 21 or younger, he was a talent like no other before untimely injuries intervened. YouTube compilations don't do the goalscoring genius justice.

Gary Neville went viral last year when suggesting Fowler could have been England's greatest goalscorer had he been part of Manchester United's class of '92 instead of coming through at Anfield. Half of that statement is right.

The striker could have been one of English football's best, but it wasn't his club holding him back - even if the man nicknamed ‘God’ by Kopites deserved far more than he has to show when looking back on his career.

Winning his first trophy with Liverpool when lifting the League Cup in 1995, he also played a vital role for the Reds as they won the treble in 2001

He scored in both their League Cup and UEFA Cup final wins against Birmingham City and Alaves, but along with that year’s FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup, those five trophies would be the limit of his winners’ medals.

While one of Liverpool’s greatest ever strikers, he was just unfortunate to come through at the wrong time

in the early days of the Reds’ 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England again and at a time when the Champions League had not opened its door to the Premier League’s top three or four.

Meanwhile, limited to just 26 international caps and seven goals for England, he has arguably never received the full recognition he deserved outside of the red half of Merseyside.

Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole recently insisted Fowler was the greatest English finisher in Premier League history

Ferdinand

“Oh, I loved Robbie, you know,” he said to Rio Ferdinand on the ‘Rio Presents’ podcast earlier this year. “Robbie is the best finisher I’ve seen. I’m honest.

“I’ve seen Robbie, obviously, then I’ve played with him, I’ve seen Robbie, [when] we used to go away with England, do some craziness.

“When you’re away with England, you go away and watch people.

"I’m saying because left or right foot, head, brave - and I used to sit and watch him like, his left foot was a wand as well, and Robbie was one of the best finishers I’ve seen - English finisher."

He is nicknamed ‘God’ for a reason.

But if you weren’t there, you won’t truly appreciate just how good Fowler was - and how much greater he potentially could have been, if not for injury, after bursting onto the stage.

If only things had been different. After three successive 30+ goals season aged 21 or younger

Fowler would push the 20-goal barrier close in 1998/99, 2000/01 and 2001/02 as he battled back from injury only to find himself unfancied and unwanted by manager Gerard Houllier.

Fowler then had to watch on enviously when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005, having been sold to Leeds United four years prior.

while fowler would return to his boyhood club in January 2006 on a free transfer from Man City, the forward, now the wrong side of 30 and past his best,

fowler was cup-tied as Rafa Benitez’s side won the FA Cup and left out of the matchday squad for the 2007 Champions League final.

Yet by this point, pulling on the famous red shirt once again had perhaps been enough for Fowler

Fowler

"It is unbelievable, a dream come true,”

"I can hardly believe that I am back and it's an incredible feeling. After I'd signed I sat in my car outside Anfield and was incredibly emotional.

"It is something I wanted to happen for a long time and I'm glad it came about. If you pray enough for things I'm proof they can happen.

"It is nice to come back to the first love of your life. I'm happy to be here regardless. If that is in terms of football that is fine by me.

"It has all gone (his history). I was sad to leave but that has happened and I have got other things to look forward to.

"One of my biggest regrets in football is that in my last match before I left I was taken off at half-time against Sunderland [following Dietmar Hamann's sending off] and never really had a chance to say goodbye.

“Now I am getting the chance to do things properly with the fans and it is just such a great feeling. I am here and I am committed to a future at Liverpool.

“When I left I never really thought I would play for Liverpool again but deep down I've always wanted to come back.

“Just to put on that red shirt again and walk out will be amazing."