Trophies: Champions League (2019), UEFA Super Cup (2019), FIFA Club World Cup (2019), Premier League (2019-20)
Georginio Wijnaldum was a model of consistency and quality in a Liverpool team that became English, European and world champions.
Brought to the Reds from Newcastle United in 2016, the Dutch midfielder was a natural fit at Anfield and would become a key figure in the club’s ascendancy under Jürgen Klopp.
His debut season concluded with clinching a return to Champions League football, the No.5 hammering home a vital opening goal in front of the Kop on the final day as qualification was secured.
‘Gini’ was something of a Swiss army knife in the centre of the pitch; he could win the ball, hold the ball and pass it creatively. Defensively astute and composed in attacking play, too.
Rarely unavailable, he’d run all day. And he was versatile to boot, turning out at centre-back and centre-forward on occasions for the Reds.
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Fifty appearances across his second campaign included 14 outings in Liverpool’s run to the 2018 European Cup final, where there was disappointment and defeat versus Real Madrid.
Wijnaldum and his teammates bounced back strongly and returned to the showpiece a year later – and this time had the winner’s medals around their own necks.
The Netherlands international had delivered an iconic contribution in the semi-final, coming off the bench to score twice as the Reds beat Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield to overturn a three-goal deficit.
He missed only one top-flight match in the next season, a lynchpin presence in the side that ended the club’s 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England by amassing 99 points.
For good measure, in between there were successes in the UEFA Super Cup and – for the first time in LFC history – the FIFA Club World Cup.
Wijnaldum remained near-ever-present during his swansong on Merseyside, aiding an unlikely third-placed finish at the end of 2020-21 before saying goodbye to supporters in L4 when his contract expired.
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