Jamie Carragher Says Youngster Never Capped by England 'Should Have Got 100'
Jamie Carragher has played with some all-time greats at club and international level but the Liverpool legend has named three players who he thought would reach higher heights in their careers.
Carragher, now one of the most prominent pundits on TV with Sky Sports and CBS Sports, played 737 times for Liverpool and was also capped 38 times for England.
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were among the most talented players he played alongside.
But in an interview with SPORTbible discussing his role in the Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation 'Every Minute Matters' campaign raising awareness for improving CPR and defibrillation skills in grassroots football, Carragher shared insight into lesser known stars.
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The 47-year-old was asked about players who he thought would be regulars for England but didn't realise their full potential for different reasons.
And Carragher proceeded to mention Nigel Quashie, who made more than 400 club appearances in a solid career which included spells at the likes of QPR, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Southampton, West Brom and West Ham.
He was in the same age group as Carragher with England and left the Liverpool legend mesmerised by what he was able to do in training.
He never made the grade with England after the Under 21's and ended up switching international allegiance to Scotland, where he was capped 14 times.
Carragher names the two English talents who wowed him
But had he been judged on his training performances, Carragher believes he could have racked up a century of caps for the Three Lions with his ability.
“One from England as a youngster was a lad who had a good career called Nigel Quashie," Carragher said, speaking as part of promoting the Every Minute Matters campaign which has already successfully inspired over 350,000 people to start learning CPR.
“He was a central midfielder player who played at QPR. I remember playing with him for England Under 16’s and in training, he was absolutely sensational.
“It was the same at England Under 21’s as well. It just didn’t quite happen when he played the games but in training, you’d be like, ‘Oh my god how good’s this lad?!’.
“You don’t know why because so much goes in to making a footballer, it’s not just ability. Mentality or whatever it may be.
“If we’d have judged Nigel Quashie Monday to Friday, he’d have definitely got 100 caps for England but it didn’t quite work like that.
“He was a fantastic talent and could play off both feet."
Quashie wasn't the only talent who Carragher was in awe of back in the day. He and Gerrard have regularly talked up David Thompson, the latter calling him "outstanding" and "the best young player" at Liverpool in his 2015 autobiography, 'My Story'.
He made his Liverpool debut in 1996 and he went on to play 56 times before moving to Coventry for a fee of £3.5 million.
Thompson represented Blackburn, Wigan, Portsmouth and Bolton in the Premier League and was included in two England squads without taking to the pitch. He retired at the age of 29 in 2007.
"He was actually playing for Liverpool reserves at 16 – which was a big thing to do," Carragher explained on Thompson.
“He played in the Premier League and was in England squads but I think the feeling at the time was that he would go on and have a great Liverpool career and it didn’t quite happen.
“[Gerard] Houllier came in and he had an injury, he didn’t quite take to him. He probably never had what the youth programme thought he would have at Liverpool.
“Some of the things I used to see him do in the Liverpool youth team – he'd chip the goalkeeper from the halfway line. He was that Gazza-type figure in the youth team but it didn’t quite happen for him in Liverpool and England.”
In terms of the Every Minute Matters campaign, Carragher has got involved as he has a "little bit of history" with defibrillators.
In the past, his 23 Foundation joined forces with the Oliver King Foundation - named after a 12-year-old Liverpool boy who suffered a tragic cardiac arrest in his swimming PE lesson - to change government legislation and get the equipment available in all schools.
Recent research conducted uncovered a significant gap in CPR and defibrillation knowledge, confidence and skills across grassroots football.
With only 51% of the grassroots football community thinking their team is prepared to handle a cardiac arrest, Carragher kicked off a month of awareness and education with a face-to-face training session for local grassroots clubs at Tranmere Rovers.
"The big thing is to make sure you get a defibrillator and the best way to do that is go on the British Heart Foundation website and apply for it," he explained.
"And then also, on the he back of that, is the training that goes with it. I understand lots of people will be very nervous about using equipment and you imagine the pressurised situation but a lot of the time it's self-explanatory. When you actually open a defibrillator, it's actually telling you every step with what you need to do.
"It's probably not as scary as some people think but it's important we get that message out."
Liverpool and England legend Jamie Carragher is spearheading the next phase of Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s pioneering Every Minute Matters campaign with a month-long awareness drive to equip grassroots football clubs with lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills.
Topics: England, Jamie Carragher, Liverpool, Spotlight
Josh Lawless