As spokesman for UEFA's technical study group, Houllier had the job of announcing Greece's Theo Zagorakis as JVC UEFA Euro 2004 Player of the Tournament today.

But he also had good news for Rooney, Campbell, Cole and Lampard as they made the 23-strong All Stars squad of players who had impressed Europe's top coaches during the finals.

Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole are also in the squadHoullier's fellow committee members in the UEFA technical study group included respected coaches such as former Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, current Scots boss Bertie Vogts, ex-Blackburn man Roy Hodgson, Czech veteran Josef Venglos and Romanian Anghel Iordanescu.

And all were impressed by England's star quartet.

Houllier said: "Rooney was a revelation, all the technical study group were impressed with him and we discussed him a lot. I am close to the English game of course and I think he has a big, big future.

"Sol Campbell was a collossus and Ashley Cole was outstanding and I'm sure surprised a lot of people during the tournament.

"And Frank Lampard really emerged with three goals from midfield to prove he is a top-quality player."

Other Premiership stars in the list include Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy, Aston Villa's Olof Mellberg and Anfield's Milan Baros - who pipped Rooney to the Golden Shoe by scoring five goals to the England man's four.

Houllier said: "Milan scored five goals and I was very impressed with him. He was very unlucky at Liverpool last year because he broke his ankle and didn't come back until March.

"But maybe it worked in his favour because he looked a lot fresher than many other players. He had a fantastic tournament."

Despite Baros' success in front of goal, however, it was Greece captain Theo Zagorakis who was named player of the tournament. And Houllier is adamant the former Leicester man deserves it.

He said: "We think that he was consistent throughout the competition. He was man of the match in the opening game and man of the match in the final. You can't do much more than that. And as well as playing to a high standard he was influential as a captain and a leader."

The full 23-man squad in full:

Name Position Country
Petr Cech Goalkeeper Czech Republic
Antonios Nikopolidis Goalkeeper Greece
Sol Campbell Defender England
Ashley Cole Defender England
Traianos Dellas Defender Greece
Olof Mellberg Defender Sweden
Ricardo Carvalho Defender Portugal
Georgios Seitaridis Defender Greece
Gianluca Zambrotta Defender Italy
Michael Ballack Midfield player Germany
Luís Figo Midfield player Portugal
Frank Lampard Midfield player England
Maniche Midfield player Portugal
Pavel Nedved Midfield player Czech Republic
Theodoros Zagorakis Midfield player Greece
Zinedine Zidane Midfield player France
Milan Baroš Forward Czech Republic
Angelos Charisteas Forward Greece
Henrik Larsson Forward Sweden
Cristiano Ronaldo Forward Portugal
Wayne Rooney Forward England
Jon Dahl Tomasson Forward Denmark
Ruud van Nistelrooy Forward Netherlands


The EURO technical study group comprises eight members: Roy Hodgson, Gerard Houllier, Anghel Iordanescu, György Mezey, Holger Osieck, Jozef Venglos, Berti Vogts and Andy Roxburgh. Each of these cast one vote for the Player of the Tournament, and the ninth vote came from the fans vote.

Bold denotes England players
Italics denote Premiership players