6 Liverpool stars who beat the odds & thrived elsewhere after leaving

While plenty of former Liverpool players have struggled to find much success away from Anfield, others have thrived after leaving the club.

For every Philippe Coutinho or Michael Owen who sharply declined after leaving Liverpool, there are some examples of players who actually improved upon leaving.

We’ve gone back throughout Liverpool’s recent history and have found six players who thrived elsewhere after leaving Liverpool.

Luis Suarez

Suarez was an absolute phenomenon during his final two years at Anfield where he scored 61 goals in just 81 appearances.

For many, the pressure of joining a side like Barcelona would have been too intense, but not for Suarez. While the Uruguayan had to serve a fourth-month ban upon joining the club, it didn’t take him long to acclimatise to his new surroundings.

He won the treble during his first season in Spain, scoring 25 goals along the way, including a strike in the Champions League final.

Suarez went on to win 13 trophies with the Spanish giants and scored 198 goals across 283 appearances for the club.

In 2015–16 he even managed to outperform the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the European Golden Shoe with 59 goals.

Xabi Alonso

Given the glistening career that Alonso went on to enjoy in Spain and Germany, fans can hardly begrudge the Spaniard for leaving Liverpool when he did.

After spending five years at Anfield, Real Madrid turned his head in the summer of 2009 and the rest is history.

During stints with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Alonso went on to win 10 trophies and he got to work with some of the best managers of all time during that period.

“It was very difficult to take that decision (to leave) but it was probably for the best for me because if I had stayed another season it would have been uncomfortable for me,” Alonso told ESPN in 2011.

“I was really happy with the team and my team-mates and felt that we could do great things. I was happy on that side but within a club, you have to see the big picture and another season (at Liverpool) would have been too much for me.”

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Raheem Sterling

Sterling’s departure left a bitter taste in Liverpool fans’ mouths back in 2015, but you can’t deny the success he’s gone on to enjoy.

A four-time Premier League champion with numerous other accolades under his belt, Sterling reached his peak a few years after leaving Anfield behind.

While he’s no longer at the peak of his powers, not many players can hold a candle to his career in the Premier League.

Javier Mascherano

Whether he played in midfield or defence, Mascherano was one of the most reliable players of his generation and that didn’t change upon his move to Barcelona.

His decision to leave Liverpool in 2010 was almost instantly vindicated as he won the treble during his first season at Barcelona, making 45 appearances along the way.

In total, he spent seven and a half years playing at Camp Nou and won 17 trophies during that time. You can’t knock that record.

Steve McManaman

At an individual level, McManaman never quite hit the same heights after leaving Liverpool, but he still enjoyed plenty of success.

During his four-year stint in Spain, he managed to win six trophies, including two Champions League medals.

However, despite the accolades he won in Spain, McManaman has admitted that it wasn’t quite the same feeling as winning with Liverpool.

“I remember sitting, we’d just won the first Champions League (in 2000) and I’d only been at the club what, 10 months,” McManaman told the We Are Liverpool Podcast.

“The lads were in the dressing room singing Spanish songs and lifting the president up in air, which I did, but I just felt as if I was a bit of a fraud, because they’re all singing these Spanish songs and I just thought to myself ‘this is just weird.’

“I remember thinking ‘I would have loved to have done this with Liverpool’ because I would have been right in the forefront of it all, knowing all the words and really throwing myself into it.

“And I was very much on the periphery of all the celebrations just because I didn’t understand it.”

READ: 9 Premier League stars who we can’t believe turned down Real Madrid

Luis Alberto

The Spaniard never got much of a chance at Anfield, making just 12 appearances during his three-year stint in England.

Lazio then took a punt on the attacking midfielder in 2016 and the rest is history. Alberto went on to enjoy his peak years in Italy and made over 300 appearances for the club between 2016 and 2024.

In the history of the club, only 12 players have made more appearances for Lazio than Alberto managed. Along with several individual accolades, he also won three trophies during his spell at the Stadio Olimpico.