Liverpool had to ban midfielder from wearing Everton shirt in training

It takes an incredible amount of talent and hard luck to make it as a professional footballer. Even more so to make it as a professional footballer with Liverpool.

So if you had the chance to play for the Reds, you would put any personal allegiances aside. Just like Jordan Rossiter did, albeit reluctantly at first.

Rossiter, now 27 and playing for League One Shrewsbury Town, made his fifth and final appearance for Liverpool on this day in 2015 as Jurgen Klopp's side drew 0-0 away to Sion in the Europa League.

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The midfielder joined the Reds' academy at the age of six and would rise through the ranks and eventually make his first-team debut aged 17 in a dramatic Carabao Cup 14-13 penalty shootout win over Middlesbrough, during which he opened the scoring. He old would go on to make a further four appearances at senior level before being released in 2016.

Rossiter's days with Liverpool may now be over but his actions during his time at the club were brought to the table by Salford City boss Karl Robinson.

Robinson began his coaching career at the Reds' academy before going into management with MK Dons, Charlton Athletic and Oxford United. He is a lifelong Liverpool supporter. Unlike Rossiter.

“We also had Jordan Rossiter who was a massive Blue Nose," Robinson told the I Had Trails Once podcast. "He was a massive Everton fan so we had to ban him from wearing an Everton kit in the gym, but he hated Liverpool so much that he would just wear his Celtic kit instead because he couldn’t bear to put a Liverpool kit on.

“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.”

Robinson also worked with Trent Alexander-Arnold during his early years as a footballer and described what it was like to work with the now Reds No.66.

“Trent was a nightmare,” Robinson said. “Obviously now he is a defender and people know that he can play in midfield because he played there towards the end of his time in the youth teams, but he was playing as a forward at the time and he was just so full of energy, and you could tell he was a serious player."

Explaining who else caught the eye, Robinson added: “Conor Coady is obviously a great leader now and we see that every week in the Premier League, especially when he was the captain at Wolves and you could tell that he was a leader from an early age. He was like a man amongst boys, even at eight years old, he played like he was 30, it was unbelievable.

"I remember Jesse Lingard coming in when he was about seven and a lot of people might not know this but his grandad used to take him training between Liverpool and Manchester United but obviously, in the end, he chose Manchester United.”