His explosive pace left both the Romanian and Argentine defences in knots, but Liverpool fans already knew the teenager who scored against Wimbledon on his Premiership debut was something special.

At Anfield they call him the Boy Wonder, although this season his progress has been thwarted by a recurring hamstring injury.

The BBC Sports Personality for 1998 made his England debut against Chile earlier that year, and if he can prove his fitness to Kevin Keegan he will be offer a real threat to any defence.