The former Liverpool player who ‘hated’ the club so much he would refuse to wear the kit in training
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Many would see playing for a club the size of Liverpool as a huge honour, but not everyone has the same views.
The Reds are one of the biggest and most successful teams in world football, and this has been the case for a very long time.
Whether it is a young player rising up through the academy or a player abroad being linked with a move, almost any player would see a chance in the first-team as an opportunity far too good to refuse.
However, some see it very differently due to their affiliations with other teams, with some players simply unable to put their feelings to one side.
And, there was one Liverpool wonderkid in particular who even went as far as refusing to wear the team kit in training, although his downfall will likely be seen as karma by many Reds fans.
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
The term ‘wonderkid’ is thrown around very loosely nowadays, but in the past, it had a ring to it that made many stop and listen.
Liverpool have had a few in their time, and after being compared to Steven Gerrard, Jordan Rossiter was supposed to be the next big thing to come out of the famed academy.
But, even though he represented the Reds from the age of six, the midfielder could not let his hatred of Liverpool go due to being a lifelong Evertonian, with his love for the Toffees so strong that he used to refuse to turn up to training wearing the kit.
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“He was a massive Everton fan so we had to ban him from wearing an Everton kit in the gym,” Rossiter’s former academy coach Karl Robinson said on the I Had Trials Once podcast back in 2023.
“But he hated Liverpool so much that he would just wear Celtic kit instead because he couldn’t bear to put a Liverpool kit on.
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“He refused to wear the Liverpool kit because he was such a big Everton fan and that isn’t uncommon because so many players in the Liverpool academy who were local would’ve been Everton fans.
“I’m sure it would have been the same at Everton’s academy where they would have had lads who were massive Liverpool fans.”
After failing to live up to the lofty expectations, Rossiter departed the Reds in 2016 for Rangers after 13 years at the club.
However, just 10 appearances later due to injury, his career started to spiral, with constant setbacks meaning he slowly worked his way down the EFL.
He went on to play for Bury, Fleetwood, Bristol Rovers, Shrewsbury and Oldham, before joining Waterford in the League of Ireland Premier Division where he still plays today.
Now 28, Rossiter will certainly be classed as a failed wonderkid now that he is entering his prime, although Reds fans may not mind given just how much he hated representing their club.