Michael, born in Chester, seemed destined for stardom after scoring an unprecedented 12 goals in eight games for the England Schoolboy (U15) team in 1995.
A graduate of The FA National School at Lilleshall, he scored on his Premier League debut for Liverpool in May 1997 when he was 17 and was their top League scorer in 1997-98 with 18 strikes in 36 games.
In the same season he made his only appearance for England’s Under-21s against Greece at Norwich and Glenn Hoddle handed him his senior debut in a friendly against Chile at Wembley on 11 February 1998. At 18 years 59 days Michael was the youngest England player of the 20th century. He was a teenage sensation at the World Cup in France, scoring from close range against Romania and then spectacularly against Argentina after dribbling through their multi-layered defence.
He became the youngest captain since Bobby Moore for the Paraguay friendly in April 2002 and the fourth player in history to reach 40 England goals in a EURO 2008 qualifier against Russia. He won The FA Cup, League Cup (twice) and UEFA Cup with Liverpool before spending the 2004-05 season with the Galacticos at Real Madrid.