Advertisement

'I made Liverpool debut at 18 and played for England but now can't find a club'

liam corless
·2-min read
-Credit: (Image: 2013 Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: 2013 Getty Images)


Martin Kelly is not a household name but it is a name familiar to a lot football fans: the center-back made his Liverpool debut aged just 18 and went on to play for England before having an eight-year spell with Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

Kelly joined Liverpool as a young boy in 1997 and spent 11 years progressing through the ranks before being handed his debut as a substitute for Jamie Carragher in a Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven.

Kelly's senior career at Liverpool spanned six years between 2008 and 2014, but he did not make as many appearances as he might have liked as he missed well over 100 games for the Reds due to injury.

A cruciate ligament injury sustained just weeks into the 2012-13 season ruled him out of the season, and the following year he found game time hard to come by.

Boss Brendan Rodgers said in May 2014: "Martin has been really unfortunate. He was out for a year. He came back this season, and at the beginning of the season, we put him into some games.

"But as the season wore on and we were concentrating on one game a week, it was very difficult for him to get games. He's a quality player and he's a good guy as well - he knows the club inside out."

Mere months later, Kelly was sold to Palace, where he made 148 appearances in eight seasons before joining West Brom in 2022. Kelly played just seven times in two seasons for West Brom after sustaining another serious knee injury while on loan at Wigan, before being released earlier this year and he remains without a club.

"I would like to thank all the fans, staff, and players at West Brom for the support throughout the last two seasons," Kelly, who made one appearance for England and was included in Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad, said upon leaving West Brom. "Although my time was difficult at times with my knee injury, the staff worked as tirelessly as I did to get back to a place where I feel back to my optimal fitness. Keep having that fantastic togetherness, and I’m sure you will be back where you belong in the Premier League."

With a history of multiple serious injuries, it might take a bold club to take a punt on Kelly. He trained with Salford City in the summer and there have been rumors of a coaching role at the club, but he is yet to officially retire from playing, and at 34 he might well think he can still do a job in the lower leagues.