Youngest 10 Liverpool players to make 100 appearances including Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling

Today at 12:00 PM

More than 220 players have made 100 or more first-team appearances at Liverpool, so Rousing The Kop has taken a look at the 10 youngest names to ever reach triple digits.

Some Liverpool legends also started their fabled stories at Anfield with a raft of appearances from a tender age. Steven Gerrard was only 104 days past turning 21 when he registered the midfielder's 100th senior match. One player also made their 100th appearance while a teen.

The latest player to reach 100 senior Liverpool appearances was Darwin Nunez when he met AC Milan in the Champions League on September 17, 2024. But the Uruguay international is far from sitting among the youngest players to do so, having been 25 years and 87 days old.

Nunez became the 227th player to make 100 Liverpool appearances and he was the second Uruguayan to do so after Luis Suarez. So, with that in mind, Rousing The Kop takes a look at the 10 youngest players to reach 100 Liverpool appearances and what they achieved in red.

10) Ian Rush – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 136 days

Ian Rush enjoys a place in the 10 youngest players to make 100 Liverpool appearances after hitting triple digits whilst 21 years old. The Welsh Wizard soon started to work his magic on Merseyside after joining from Chester City in 1980 and had 100 games inside three seasons.

His first three seasons also returned 61 goals as Liverpool won two First Division titles, three League Cup honours and the European Cup. Rush would ultimately go on to secure five top-flight titles, three FA Cups, five EFL Cups and two European Cups in his 660 games in total.

9) Jamie Redknapp – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 105 days

The best that English football ever saw from Jamie Redknapp came during his injury-plagued Liverpool career. Yet despite missing multiple matches most seasons, the midfielder was still able to become one of the youngest players to reach 100 appearances at Liverpool while 21.

Redknapp even also became one of the many Liverpool captains in the Premier League era after his arrival from AFC Bournemouth in 1991. Kenny Dalglish saw the potential he had as a 17-year-old and Liverpool reaped the rewards until Tottenham Hotspur took him in 2002.

Trophies were not a regular feature through Redknapp's time at Anfield, though. Liverpool's only major successes with the midfielder in their squad came in the League Cup in 1994/95 and the 2000/01 UEFA Cup. Redknapp was an unused substitute in the 2001 UEFA Cup final.

8) Steven Gerrard – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 104 days

Only a handful of Liverpool academy graduates have truly broken through and cemented an important presence at Anfield. Even fewer academy products have also ever made 100 first-team appearances for Liverpool, but Gerrard is a shining light for what is possible at Anfield.

Few homegrown players have ever embodied what it truly means to play for Liverpool than Gerrard did. He always led by example with a ruthless desire to win but he rarely saw those efforts yield regular silverware, despite UEFA naming Gerrard as its 2005 Player of the Year.

Liverpool secured the UEFA Cup in 2000/01, the Champions League in 2004/05, the FA Cup in 2000/01 plus 05/06 and the EFL Cup in 2000/01, 02/03 and 11/12 with Gerrard. But the midfielder never won the Premier League across 17 years at Anfield with 12 as the captain.

7) Alex Raisbeck – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 73 days

Alex Raisbeck joined Liverpool in 1898 and enjoyed 11 years at the club, returning 19 goals in 341 appearances. He also helped the Reds to win their first Division One title in 1900/01 and another in 1905/06 during the Merseyside team's first term back after winning Division Two.

The authority Raisbeck played with also ensured he was one of the first true Liverpool icons and a real fans' favourite. He further remains one of the youngest players to hit 100 outings at Liverpool after racking up the appearances quickly upon joining the Reds from Hibernian.

6) Phil Thompson – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 53 days

A lifelong Red engrained in the history of Liverpool Football Club is also one of the youngest players to reach 100 appearances in Phil Thompson. Their iconic centre-back emerged from the Merseyside youth ranks to become a legend of the game and one of its most decorated.

Bill Shankly placed his faith in the Kirkby native at a tender age and turned Thompson into a ball-playing defender thanks to his early development in midfield. It helped to deliver seven Division One titles, three European Cups and League Cups, two UEFA Cups and an FA Cup.

5) Trent Alexander-Arnold – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 21 years, 26 days

A 94th-minute winning goal by Sadio Mane away to Aston Villa on November 2, 2019 in the Premier League overshadowed Trent Alexander-Arnold becoming one of the youngest stars to hit 100 Liverpool appearances. Andy Robertson had also pulled the Reds level in the 87th.

Alexander-Arnold featured in the Reds' 2-1 win at Villa Park just 26 days after celebrating his 21st birthday. He would even end that season by celebrating helping Liverpool win their first top-flight title in 30 years as part of the first Reds side to ever lift the Premier League trophy.

Bringing the Premier League title to Merseyside was also just one of the gongs in Liverpool's trophy cabinet that Alexander-Arnold helped to claim. The right-back also emerged from the academy to win the Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup before celebrating turning 24.

4) Harvey Elliott – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 20 years, 323 days

A new name joined the 10 youngest players to make 100 Liverpool appearances on February 21, 2024 when Harvey Elliott started at home to Luton Town in the Premier League. He even marked the occasion with one goal in the 90th minute to register a 4-1 win over the Hatters.

Elliott could have reached 100 Liverpool appearances even younger, as well, were it not for a fracture dislocation of the left ankle he sustained at Leeds United in September 2021. At just 18 years old, Elliott was starting to be an important talent but was sidelined for four months.

Racking up 100 appearances before turning 21 years old also proved why Liverpool tempted Elliott to leave Fulham at the end of his contract whilst only 16. It cost the Reds £1.5m rising to £3m with add-ons – a record compensation fee at the time – but his value exploded after.

The first trophy Elliott won with Liverpool was even the 2019/20 Premier League title under Jurgen Klopp. Yet he only played seven minutes over two appearances that season with the playmaker's time in the senior squad starting to get going a year after arriving from Fulham.

Klopp awarded Elliott his first-team debut aged 16 years, five months and 21 days old in the EFL Cup away to Milton Keynes in September 2019. It further ranked Elliott second amongst Liverpool's youngest players of all time behind Jerome Sinclair (16y and six days) at the time.

3) Robbie Fowler – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 20 years, 167 days

One of the favourite sons of Liverpool's academy is also one of the youngest Reds players to make 100 first-team appearances in Robbie Fowler. The forward hit the ground running once in the senior squad and penned triple digits for first-team fixtures shortly after he turned 20.

Fowler's debut away to Fulham in the EFL Cup gave Liverpool a glimpse into what lay ahead as he scored to secure a 3-1 win in their second-round first-leg tie in September 1993. But it was only a glimpse before Fowler exploded with five goals in the reverse tie two weeks later.

His first season in the first-team featured a total of 18 goals in 34 games but no silverware. It took Fowler until the 1994/95 season to win a trophy with Liverpool as the Reds secured the EFL Cup. But he also helped Liverpool do a UEFA Cup, FA Cup and EFL Cup triple in 2000/01.

2) Raheem Sterling – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 20 years, six days

February 27, 2010 marked the day that Liverpool finalised terms with Queens Park Rangers to sign highly-rated England youth international, Raheem Sterling. He quit Shepherd's Bush, London for Merseyside at 15 years old for an initial £600,000 fee, plus a 20% sell-on clause.

QPR would later reap the rewards of their sell-on clause as Sterling secured a £44m move to Manchester City from Liverpool on July 14, 2015, rising to £49m with add-ons. His five years at Anfield returned 23 goals plus 18 assists in 129 fixtures before leaving whilst 20 years old.

Sterling made his 100th appearance for Liverpool against Manchester United at Old Trafford on December 14, 2014 – just six days after turning 20. But he could not help the Reds avoid a 3-0 defeat away to their arch-rival after starting as a striker under coach Brendan Rodgers.

Liverpool further failed to win a single trophy with Sterling in their squad. But he went on to enjoy lavish success at Manchester City with four Premier League titles, an FA Cup winners' medal and five EFL Cup winners' medals before leaving the Citizens for Chelsea come 2022.

1) Michael Owen – 100th Liverpool appearance aged 19 years, 363 days

Since Liverpool were founded in 1892, only one player has ever made 100 appearances for the club before turning 20 years old in Michael Owen. Although the forward only just crept in whilst still a teenager by two days when visiting Huddersfield Town on December 12, 1999.

Liverpool registered a 2-0 win at Huddersfield in the third round of the 1999/2000 FA Cup as Owen started alongside Titi Camara in his 100th first-team appearance. But it took a further two years before Owen scored his 100th goal at Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at West Ham United.

Leaving it late, Owen saved the Reds from suffering a defeat at Upton Park on December 29, 2001 when he flashed home Emile Heskey's pass in the 88th minute of their Premier League affair. The striker went on to hit 158 goals in 297 matches before leaving on August 13, 2004.

Real Madrid lured Owen to La Liga for £8m plus winger Antonio Nunez weeks after Liverpool hired Rafael Benitez as their manager. He still remains the only player to win the Ballon d'Or as a Liverpool player, where he also won an FA Cup, a UEFA Cup and the EFL Cup two times.