Current club: Liverpool
‘Stevie G’, the FWA’s ‘Footballer of the Year’ in 2009, PFA Player of the Year in 2006 and England Player of the Year in 2007, is a talismanic midfielder and captain for Liverpool and England.
A Liverpudlian, he made his Premier League debut at 18 as a last-minute substitute against Blackburn Rovers in November 1998 and made 12 appearances in that season.
In 1999-2000 he increased his appearances to 29 and won his first full cap for England in a friendly against Ukraine at Wembley on 31 May 2000, a day after his 20th birthday. He had already scored once in four games for the Under-21s.
Steven became a legendary player and inspiring captain for the Merseysiders, winning two FA Cups, two League Cups, one Champions League and one UEFA Cup. He had passed 300 Premier League appearances by the end of 2007-08, scoring more than 50 goals from midfield.
For England he featured in the European Finals of 2000 and 2004 and was England’s top scorer (with two) in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He skippered the side for the first time in Sweden in March 2004 and he was the first player to be handed the armband by Fabio Capello for the latter’s first game in charge against the Swiss.
He won his 75th cap in the Slovenia friendly in September 2009 and captained his country during the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa before helping England qualify for Euro 2012.
In season 2011-12 he helped Liverpool lift the League Cup and guided them to The FA Cup Final.