Jamie Carragher Names Ex-England Teammate He Kept Out Of Team, Reveals His Original Position For Liverpool

Jamie Carragher has claimed that he managed to keep Emile Heskey out of the England Under-16s team after he started his career out as a striker.

The 43-year-old Sky Sports pundit spent his entire playing career at Liverpool and made over 700 appearances during his time at Anfield.

Carragher might have been an important figure in the Liverpool defence during his 17-year senior playing career, but he had to transition into the role of a defender.

The former Liverpool defender was playing in the role of a striker, aged 14, when he attended the Football Association's development centre at Lilleshall.

Carragher was deployed as a striker for both England and Liverpool at youth level before he became a defender in his senior career.

“I played my childhood as a striker, I played for England as a striker,” he told The Athletic’s Football Cliches.

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“I was a centre-forward until the age of 16, 17. My first game for Liverpool reserves was as a striker.”

Carragher added: “When I was a kid I was a number nine, I was quick, I was a goalscorer, broke all the records.

“Then I went to the national school at Lilleshall at 14 as a centre-forward and I was a late developer physically, so I couldn’t run away from anyone or beat people with pace, strength whatever.

“So I then took up the between the lines role as it's now called, so I was a hold-up player, so I was always coming to feet then.

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“There was no way I could have carried on as a centre-forward because I just didn’t have the pace or the sort of dribbling ability but I could hold the ball up, bring people into play but I was just slowly getting further back.”

Carragher wasn’t able to keep Liverpool hero Michael Owen out of the Reds youth team in the striker role.

However, the Liverpool legend had a better time in keeping former Reds teammate Heskey out of the England U16s.

“This is a feather in my cap, by the way. I was keeping Emile Heskey out of the England Under-16s team,” Carragher said.

Topics: Jamie Carragher, Liverpool, England, Football, Premier League

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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