Whether it’s a false number 9 or a prolific poacher, Liverpool undeniably has a rich history of quality strikers playing at the front of the field. Here we take a look and rank some of the best strikers ever to have graced the field as a Red.
Best Liverpool Strikers Ever
- Michael Owen
Making it to this list owing to that shiny Ballon D’Or trophy in his closet, although his Liverpool legacy was mired by his controversial decision to join bitter arch-rivals Manchester United later in his career, Owen nonetheless was nothing short of a prodigy during his time at Merseyside. He started his youth career at the age of 14 at the Liverpool Academy, and signed his professional contract with the first team at the age of 17 in 1996.
Scoring on his debut against Wimbledon, Owen quickly replaced injury-mired Robbie Fowler as the team’s first-choice striker. He won the PL Golden Boot in 1997, scoring 18 goals in the league and 23 overall across the season, along with the coveted PFA Young Player of the Year, proving himself as a potent emerging talent.
In 2000-01, he was instrumental in the Liverpool side that won the unique treble of FA Cup, League Cup, and the UEFA Cup along with emerging talents such as Stevie G. That calendar year, Liverpool became the first English side to win five trophies in a single season, winning the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup.
His exploits earned him a Ballon D’or that season in 2001, and also the interest of Real Madrid under the new chairman Fiorentino Perez. Owen subsequently departed to be a part of the new Los Galacticos, after scoring 158 times in 297 appearances for the Reds. Unfortunately, he could never replicate his form at Liverpool, but he remains one of the most talented strikers to play for Liverpool in recent memory.
STATS:
| SEASON | APPEARANCES | GOALS |
| 1996-97 | 2 | 1 |
| 1997-98 | 44 | 23 |
| 1998-99 | 40 | 23 |
| 1999-2000 | 30 | 12 |
| 2000-01 | 46 | 24 |
| 2001-02 | 43 | 28 |
| 2002-03 | 54 | 28 |
| 2003-04 | 38 | 19 |
- Robbie Fowler
Nicknamed “God” by the Anfield faithful, Robbie Fowler was widely considered to be the best natural finisher in the league during his time, owing to his penchant for goals and ruthlessness in front of it.
A childhood Everton fan, Fowler grew up envious of Liverpool’s illustrious achievements, especially during the Rush era. However he was picked up by Liverpool scouts and by the mid-90s, took the helm from Ian Rush as Liverpool’s first choice in front of the goal.
He blitzed into the goalscoring charts and was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year consecutively for two years in ‘95 and ‘96, a feat only equaled by Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, and Dele Alli. A part of the infamous ‘Spice Boys’ team, he also held the record for the league’s fastest hat-trick in just 4 minutes and 33 seconds, a record which was only trumped by Sadio Mane in 2015.
With a total of 183 goals for Liverpool spanning across 12 years in a red jersey, he remains the only player in the Premier League era to have scored more than 30 goals in three consecutive seasons – hauling 98 goals in just 116 matches!
By the turn of the decade however, Fowler had dropped down the pecking order, with the rise of younger talents like Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard. He eventually left in 2001, making a brief stint back at Liverpool in 2006. By the time he retired, he was the 6th highest goalscorer of all time for Liverpool, and the 7th highest in the Premier League era.
STATS:
| SEASON | APPEARANCES | GOALS |
| 1993-94 | 34 | 18 |
| 1994-95 | 57 | 31 |
| 1995-96 | 53 | 36 |
| 1996-97 | 44 | 31 |
| 1997-98 | 28 | 13 |
| 1998-99 | 35 | 18 |
| 1999-2000 | 14 | 3 |
| 2000-01 | 48 | 17 |
| 2001-02 | 17 | 4 |
| 2005-06 | 16 | 5 |
| 2006-07 | 23 | 7 |
- Roger Hunt
Going back to the origins of the Bill Shankly era, Roger Hunt joined Liverpool in ‘59, when the Reds were struggling in the second division trying to claw back up to top tier football. His haul of 41 goals in 41 games in 1962 helped the Merseyside outfit seal a comfortable promotion to the First Division, although little did people know at the time that he was just getting started.
Spearheading the Red’s unrelenting attack, just a year later Liverpool were the champions of England, with Sir Roger netting 33 times that season. Another league title came in 1965 with him again netting 32 times. He also ended the Kopites’ extensive wait for FA Cup glory, winning Liverpool’s first-ever FA Cup the same year by scoring the opener in a 2-1 extra-time victory against Leeds United.
By 1968, Roger Hunt had become the all-time top goalscorer to ever don the red jersey, netting 285 times across a trophy-laden 11 years stint at the club, a record broken only by Ian Rush. However, he remains Liverpool’s highest league goal scorer to date with 244 out of 286 coming in the league alone.
He was also a crucial part of the England side that won the World Cup in 1966, cementing his legacy not just at the club, but in national football as well. For his immense contribution to English football, he was given an honorary knighthood in 2000.
STATS:
| SEASON | APPEARANCES | GOALS |
| 1959-60 | 38 | 23 |
| 1960-61 | 36 | 19 |
| 1961-62 | 46 | 42 |
| 1962-63 | 48 | 26 |
| 1963-64 | 46 | 33 |
| 1964-65 | 58 | 37 |
| 1965-66 | 46 | 32 |
| 1966-67 | 48 | 19 |
| 1867-68 | 57 | 30 |
| 1968-69 | 47 | 17 |
| 1969-70 | 22 | 7 |
- Kenny Dalglish
A Scottish lad who started as a goalkeeper in his young days, he had several unsuccessful trials at Merseyside in 1966. The scouts wrote him off with any links to Liverpool and life went on.
Until a decade later, when Kenny Dalglish joined the Reds more than a decade later in 1977 as a 26-year-old. And did he join guns blazing? He scored the only goal in the European Cup final against Club Brugge in his debut season, leading to Liverpool being crowned back to back European Champions. He scored 31 times that year, with the Reds finishing runners up in the league.
He followed up the next season with 35 goals, making sure Liverpool win the league title comfortably against THAT legendary Nottingham Forest side. Liverpool went on to win the league 7 times in the next 10 years, with him playing an instrumental role in the Red’s indomitable European and league form.
His partnership with Ian Rush will go down as one of the most prolific in the annals of Liverpool’s sporting history, with Kenny slotting into a more creative role behind Rush as the duo combined to form a formidable attack across Europe.
After the Heysel Stadium disaster and the subsequent resignation of the manager, Kenny Dalglish was named the player-manager of Liverpool in 1985. During his first season in charge, he led the team to league glory again, however, this time playing only 21 games for the Reds. He won 3 league titles and 2 FA Cup during his subsequent stint as a full-time manager.
Spanning a career consisting of 172 goals and 16 trophies for the red outfit, he is rightly considered by some to be the greatest player to ever grace the red shirt, as is evident by the renaming of the newest Anfield expansion to “Kenny Dalglish Stand”.
STATS:
| SEASON | APPEARANCES | GOALS |
| 1977-78 | 61 | 31 |
| 1978-79 | 54 | 25 |
| 1979-80 | 59 | 22 |
| 1980-81 | 53 | 18 |
| 1981-82 | 61 | 22 |
| 1982-83 | 57 | 20 |
| 1983-84 | 50 | 12 |
| 1984-85 | 51 | 6 |
| 1985-86 | 29 | 5 |
| 1986-87 | 23 | 8 |
| 1987-88 | 2 | 0 |
| 1988-89 | 1 | 0 |
| 1989-90 | 1 | 0 |
- Ian Rush
Where do we even start? In his two stints as Liverpool’s number 9, Ian Rush was the name synonymous with a goalscoring machine that scored a record-breaking 346 goals in all competitions for the club.
Despite garnering interest from Everton and Manchester City, Liverpool won the race to sign the then 18-year-old Rush in 1980, paying a record fee of £300,000 for a teenager at the time. It was by 1981-82 however that he cemented his place as a regular in the first team, and the rest, as they say, is history.
He netted 47 times in the 1983-84 season, enough to make him the first British player to win the European Golden Boot. His best moment came as he scored a double against an Everton side in the finals of the FA Cup in 1986. Rush, a childhood Evertonian, seemed to have a penchant for scoring against Everton during his entire club career.
It was announced that he’ll be leaving to join Juventus at the end of the ‘85-86 season. However, with only a single brief year with the Turin side, Liverpool resigned him back and Ian Rush started where he left off, and soon enough the Kop was back to singing his name again as he left defenders in the dust.
He surpassed Roger Hunt in October 1992 while netting his 287th to become the record leading goalscorer for Liverpool, a record which no one has ever come close to till this date. He is also the 3rd most prolific striker in the history of English football with 233 goals in the league to his name, a name synonymous with one of the greatest strikers in the world.
STATS:
| SEASON | APPEARANCES | GOALS |
| 1980-81 | 9 | 0 |
| 1981-82 | 49 | 30 |
| 1982-83 | 51 | 31 |
| 1983-84 | 65 | 47 |
| 1984-85 | 44 | 26 |
| 1985-86 | 56 | 33 |
| 1986-87 | 57 | 40 |
| 1988-89 | 32 | 11 |
| 1989-90 | 48 | 26 |
| 1990-91 | 48 | 26 |
| 1991-92 | 31 | 9 |
| 1992-93 | 42 | 22 |
| 1993-94 | 49 | 19 |
| 1994-95 | 50 | 19 |
| 1995-96 | 29 | 7 |
Honorable Mentions For Best Liverpool Strikers Ever:
- Fernando Torres
- Kevin Keegan
- Gordon Hodgson
- Divock Origi (I’m kidding, but he’s undoubtedly the greatest clutch player of his generation)
Editor’s Picks:
- Liverpool’s 5 All Time Top Goal Scorers
- Liverpool’s All Time XI Players
- All Time Trophies won by Liverpool
- Five Best Penalty Takers In The History of Liverpool FC
- 5 Most Underrated Players of Liverpool (All Time)
