PLAYER PROFILE

Chris Kirkland

Position: Goal

Height: 6'3

Weight: 11st 7lbs

Date of Birth: 1981-05-02 Leicester, England

Chris Kirkland

Liverpool swooped to sign Chris Kirkland for 'British transfer fee record for a goalkeeper' in a deal worth £6million at the end of August 2001.

Leicester-born Kirkland was a product of Coventry's Youth Academy. The young keeper impressed during the Sky Blues relegation season and has since been touted as a future England number one, although he has yet to break into the senior national side.

The magnificent form of Jerzy Dudek has meant that Kirkland's first team chances at Liverpool were limited. Indeed, he played in only four games during his first season, but his performance away to Galatasaray in the Champions League was highly impressive and one of his most memorable.

His opportunity arose during the 2002/03 campaign following a sting of errors by Dudek in December 2002, in the midst of Liverpool's incredible run of poor form. Kirkland seized his chance and played regularly for a number of games until he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury after a clash with Crystal Palace striker Dele Adebola during the FA Cup fourth-round tie at Selhurst Park.

Kirkland was hoping to be fit for pre-season training after an operation on the knee, but ended up missing the majority of the following campaign with a broken finger and broken wrist, repsectively.

The 2004/05 was no kinder to Kirkland. Beginning the season with a flurry of appearances, he briefly replaced Jerzy Dudek as Rafael Benitez's goalkeeper of choice.

However, Kirkland's season was brought to a premature end by a back injury suffered as 2004 turned into 2005. As a replacement, Liverpool bought in ex-Leeds stopper Scott Carson, bringing Kirkland fresh competition for that Number 1 jersey.

Even more arrived in the summer when Jose Reina was recruited, leaving Kirkland having to go on a year-long loan to West Bromwich Albion to get some first team football. Again, injuries hindered his progress at The Hawthorns, but he will hope that his luck has finally turned with a loan move to Wigan Athletic in July 2006 giving him another chance to relaunch his career.

He impressed as soon as he arrived at the JJB Stadium, and having stayed fit for the early part of the season, Kirkland was signed on a permanent deal in October 2006.

He enjoyed great success in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons as he became Wigan's first choice keeper.