Losing a star player on the foreign coast has been a theme in Liverpool since Kevin Keegan was dropped to Hamburg in the late 1970s.
Keegan became a worldwide icon in Germany, won the Ballon d'Or twice and played in a European Cup final.
Graeme Souness strived for Sampdoria after the captain from Liverpool to European Cup Glory in 1984, while teammate Ian Rush followed the same path to Italy and joined Juventus after the Reds had completed the double in 1986.
Michael Owen began to grace fans of Liverpool by going to Real Madrid in 2004 to mainly heat the bank and more recently Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho Anfield exchanged for the Camp Nou.
The perception of how every movement went down with the fan base varies; To be honest, it is an extremely individual chase and can play tricks afterwards.
However, it is still a traumatic episode in the Life of Fan to see a best player leave and it will stay with you. I was a stripped teenager when soundess and almost to the left were, even if there was a feeling that life would continue and a dominant Liverpool would continue to win. And we did.
But when Suarez left, Elke Red's fan who didn't think “oh shit” lies. The worst fears were quickly realized when we quickly entered.
We all knew that Suarez would be a huge hit in Barca, such as a stunning ex now correctly combined with a Spanish stud, while with a strange mix of envy and disbelief we looked that we once went out with him.
To a lesser extent, such feelings were replicated when the popular midfield duo Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano made their move to Spanish giants.
They left holes that we did not fill quickly and LFC fans watched in bittersweet admiration as both bloom.
The flops of Owen and Coutinho, on the other hand, were greeted with a large dose “told your STDs”, as if they were stooges in a moral story where haunting the money failed a counterproductive.
In both cases, not long after they left, we lifted the Champions League to prove the point. On the other hand, just about every Reds supporter thought the same thing with Raheem Sterling and he did well.
However, the most interesting story of a Liverpool player who goes abroad is from Steve McManaman.
In theory, and many fans agree, Macca tarnished his relationship with the supporters by holding out a Bosman.
It seemed criminal that after he had fed him from the boy's years to one of the best players in the Premier League, LFC McManaman should lose for free.
But that's how it took place. And the accusations of money grabber remained with some.
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Read: Steve McManaman: No more winning with Liverpool is my biggest regret
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My first experience from McManaman had come to Anfield on a cold day in 1991.
When the stadium -other George Sephton reads the replacements, I suspected that he had had a Brainfart by referring to Steve McMahon as Steve McManaman.
What the hell was George about? Too much sherry the night before?
But of course he did not refer to our built-like-A-Baksteen, All-Action, recurring hair midfielder; This was a thin, rugged, local local child that never stopped running. Our own Duracell rabbit.
McManaman and his friend Robbie Fowler caused a pleasant chaos in the 90s. Both good enough to be title winners in the right team, but in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, it was not all style above the substance. Macca was a man-of-the-match in a 2-0 win over Sunderland in the 1992 FA Cup final and won us the 1995 League Cup final against Bolton with two objectives of the season in the 31-minute room.
Despite the image of 'Spice Boys' – nice fact: Liverpool did not lose the FA Cup final of 1996 to Manchester United because of the wearing of cream -colored suits and sunglasses; United was a better team – as the 90s progressed, he was clearly our best player.
Not a great goal scorer, but a scorer of great goals, and few players from that time could have a more impressive YouTube highlights package.
With Arsenal who did double in 1998 and still in Manchester United in the Middle Fergy era, Macca needed either enormous reinforcements to raise Liverpool higher or to reduce his losses and go abroad.
A £ 12 million move to Barcelona fell on and contract wrangles did not paint him in a great light, but it seemed clear that his future was abroad.
Two cups in nine years in Liverpool were simply not enough for a player who was standing on it: “Winning trophies is what we are for in this company”.
It is now a different story – although it changes – but in the 1990s it was not unusual for an English player to try his luck in a large foreign competition.
Macca had seen Gazza, David Platt, Paul Ince and, for them, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle, going abroad and making it a success.
Although there is a famous Ian Rush -Citaat that he did not make it to Italy because he thought it was “as if he lived in a foreign country,” there was always the feeling with Macca that he really wanted to broaden his horizon.
A clear boy, who never struggled for trust, in theory he had the mental and physical tools to be a hit.
And yet I felt nervous in one way or another. As if he would be discovered behind it, who occasionally kept the eye with a dribble along the wing, but is quickly convicted of the couch, his frustrations are broadcasted in the English press so often and return home after a few seasons.
Would Liverpool even take him back?
Amazing, when he flew to Madrid to establish a basis, there was absolutely no help from the club, no support system to help him find a house.
Hardly ideal if you don't speak a word of Spanish and the locals, especially brokers, have very little English.
He eventually encountered the 11th hour, the previous occupant a certain Christian Panucci, who literally moved when McManaman raged the ride.
In rather chaotic scenes, the Italian right back Macca asked if he wanted the house and if he should leave the furniture and then immediately called the removal men to tell them not to take the trouble to come.
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Read: Real Madrid's English Era: How Becks and Macca Rocked Europe in White
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But despite this difficult start, Maccas were a huge success in Spain for four years.
In the excellent book by Sarah Edworthy, 'El Macca', a constant theme is how popular a figure he became. Fernando Hierro brings this tribute: “Steve is the most fascinating, most fantastic person I have ever met in a dressing room. The day he leaves, we will all miss him enormously. It is perfectly integrated. '
That is a praise in a time of great personalities when the Galacticos policy kicked and Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, the original Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos all came through.
Johan Cruyff described him as “everyone's partner”, the most important part in the chain that connected everyone. The parts were already important, but Macca made their sum even bigger.
During that period I have matched a lot of Real Madrid games, mainly to see how McManaman went. I saw him as a Liverpool player running around in a white shirt.
I secretly wished he would dribble past five players as he had done for the Reds, but Macca's brain was just as important as his fast feet.
For Madrid, he became a possession of possession, who recycled the ball in Tempo and break everything together. His eternal movement style brought defenders out of position and had the superstars flourish.
But he also had his thunderstorms. In 2000, Madrid reached the final of the Champions League against Valencia, McManaman took his place in a starting XI who read: Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Ivan Campo, Helguera, Karanka, Salgado, Redondo, McManaman, Raul, Morientes.
With the match 1-0 to Madrid, but still in the balance in the last quarter, the ball fell to McManaman on the edge of the box and, with both feet off the ground, his jump-court foot Volley did not give the goalkeeper a chance. It was the decisive second goal in a match that Madrid would win 3-0.
There was another, still Sprongier, Karate Kick Volley against Oviedo and a nice Dink about the goalkeeper to give Real a 2-0 win over Great Rivals Barca in the first stage of the semi-final of the Champions League 2002.
Madrid would win the last 2-1 against Leverkusen, McManaman came up like a sub for the last half hour.
I also remember his performance in the memorable Champions League showdown with Manchester United in 2003.
The Brazilian Ronaldo made the headlines that night with a brilliant hat trick for Madrid, but McManaman looked so comfortable around Old Trafford.
It has been forgotten that United won the match 4-3, even though he was aggregated, their 2-3 fightingback went down after Macca was withdrawn in the 69th minute. Chance?
Although his playing time started to take, his four years in Madrid were a huge success. The concrete evidence: two medals from the Champions League winners and two La Liga titles.
Compare that with David Beckham, who spent a similar duration in the club when McManaman left. Great for shirt sales, but only two winners medals – a competition title in his last season and a super cup victory.
But while those trophies validated McManaman's movement in the tangible currency of silverware, the scouser left a deeper inheritance -the love of the Madrid -people and the respect, both as an performer and a person, of all his fellow players.
The Spanish football correspondent Sid Lowe expands on that point and tells on planet football: 'He was indeed very popular. I think there are several reasons for that.
“It is clear that success is one, but there was the feeling that he integrated that he was approachable, open, made an attempt. People thought he was funny and sympathetic.
“When the new president, Florentino Perez, came in and tried to get rid of him, he resisted, but in a fun way that he found that he liked the club and was happy and dedicated instead of being a fight.
“He managed not to make a confrontation of it, which could have been otherwise.
“When he started playing again, after he was effectively blocked by the president, he performed excellently on the other side and went to the left to let Figo play well.
“There was a feeling that the club did not always treat him well, but he acted worthy.
“When he returned, he played, played a less glamorous but more collective role. He was always useful, never complained and never demanded again. '
It is also worth remembering that while McManaman lived his Spanish adventure, Liverpool won a stream of his own trophies during his absence.
Under Gerard Houllier, the Treble of FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup was landed in 2001 when new talents emerged.
Maybe we could have challenged even bigger prizes with McManaman in the team, but it is a fan of the Stone Hart who does not have fun and proud of what the child made in Liverpool in the richest club in the world.
By Dave Tindall
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