Terry tried to bring Liverpool defender best friends & Gerrard to Chelsea

“I wanted to play every single game for this football club, and then I get told that. It was tough to take.”

Stories of being an academy graduate at Liverpool often get dominated by the very lucky few.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is the latest prodigy to call Merseyside his home. Before him you had Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman.

The famed academy at Kirkby has been renowned over the decades for producing world class footballing talent. It's a strategy still being harnessed in the modern era at the AXA Training Centre.

Pretty much every Liverpool manager over the last half a century has given opportunities to young players. Jurgen Klopp is a prime example, and it was the same with Brendan Rodgers, Kenny Dalglish, Rafa Benitez and Gerard Houllier before.

For Stephen Wright, it will be a case of what might have been.

Despite growing up as an Everton fan, Wright was scouted by Liverpool and brought to the club's academy at a young age. Born in Bootle, he joined the Reds on a youth contract in 1996 and turned professional the following year.

While Wright's talent was clear from his teenage years, he was arguably hindered by who he was alongside in the Reds academy. None other than Steven Gerrard.

Years before being Liverpool and England captain, Gerrard was alongside Wright working his way towards the first-team. The respective journeys for the pair led to them becoming close friends off the field.

“Steven was there a little bit before me,” Wright recalls in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “I was nine years old coming up to 10, coming through the 'School of Excellence' as it was classed as, before the academy, with Steve Heighway.

“We had a really good team back then, the likes of Steven, Jason Koumas, Layton Maxwell, Michael Owen, Neil Murphy, Ian Dumbavin, Mike Yates, who are both at the academy now. It was a really good group of players.

“To go right the way through every age group and get to scholarship times when you're 16, 17, 18 - we (me and Gerrard) really became close at around 18 years old.

“Off the field, him knowing my family and me knowing his, it was always that way. It was just a good feeling. We both mentally coped with it through every channel and every age group.

“As we started getting older, Michael (Owen) was about a year and a half before us in getting into the first team. From there, it was just a case of when it was going to happen for me and Steven.

“We had the academy, but we weren't there for very long, only for a few months, and then Gerard Houllier wanted us to come and train with the first team. Then that was it, we went on from there.”

Wright and Gerrard were brought into the first-team fold at a similar time, and you would be forgiven for thinking he was nervous about the prospect of training with the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jamie Carragher, Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp. But no, far from it.

Before being given a first-team chance, Wright was already familiar with Melwood, in particular the dressing room. Not because he was a regular player there, but because it was his job to help do the cleaning.

“They knew of us because we used to clean the dressing room for them beforehand,” said Wright. “Socks, slippers, shorts, t-shirts, they would all be in a basket that you would have to do. We would be on the boots as well, so they knew of us.

“It didn't really worry me and Steven because that was the next level for us. We had gone as far as we could in the academy, the next thing for us was the first team.

“We got our chance and we never looked back.”

A loan spell at Crewe Alexandra led to Wright being handed his Liverpool debut in an 8-0 win over Stoke City in the League Cup in November 2000. Something of a dream come true for a local lad, despite growing up as an Evertonian.

That was a memorable season for Wright on a personal level, but also for Liverpool in their entire history. A historic treble of a League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup followed in 2001 - and while Wright didn't play many games, he was fully part of the squad.

In the days leading up to the League Cup final against Birmingham City, Wright featured in two Premier League matches against West Ham and Sunderland. While starting the showpiece might have been a pipedream, he nevertheless had hopes of being in the squad.

That didn't happen. Wright was not included, and it's something he admits hurt him at the time, even if it went on to help him in the long run.

“I'd played a few games leading up to the Worthington Cup final, and I'd been in most of the squads,” said Wright. “It came to the morning of the final and I wasn't in it, and I was a little bit taken back.

“I thought I'd made it, but I didn't and it was one of those things. It was the same for the FA Cup final against Arsenal and the UEFA Cup against Alaves.

“It was a tough one to take, but it was a learning curve for me and I wanted it, and that's what made me want it even more. It was the season after where I did make a lot more appearances, because I wanted it more and I wanted what the lads enjoyed the season before with all the trophies.

“That made me even more committed and the desire to play for my club.”

Liverpool soon rewarded Wright with a new three-year contract. The highlight of the campaign, no doubt, was his goal at the Kop end against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage.

Just a few months later, though, Wright was on his way out of the club after being sold to Sunderland in August 2002 for an initial £1.5m in a deal which could have risen to £3m. This came just after the controversial move for Abel Xavier from Everton.

After making 17 appearances the previous season, Wright had hopes of kicking on as a Liverpool player. But the exact opposite happened, after a surprise conversation with Houllier.

“It was a tough one, because I'd probably played my most games in that period,” recalls Wright. “I always thought that if I kept playing well then he (Xavier) wouldn't get in.

“I played a number of games and then I think Carra had a suspension against Ipswich Town where we won 5-0 away there. Abel Xavier played right-back and I played left-back.

“He (Xavier) scored that game and I always knew that no matter how well I played, I'd be the first to come away and I'd be off because he got a goal. That was the way it was, and I knew. I saw it before it happened, so it was tough to take that side of it.

“I'd signed a new contract with the club just that year, and then we went to Switzerland for pre-season. I remember getting off the flight and onto the bus, Gerard shouted me to the front and I didn't know what he was going to say.

“He said 'listen, the club have accepted a fee for you'. I looked at him and said 'what does that mean for me?' I didn't know what to do.

“I'd never been anywhere else, this was my club. So he said we could have a chat the day after. I did not sleep, I spoke to my dad in the middle of the bus and told him what had happened and he didn't know.

“I spoke to my agent and he said the club have accepted it but you don't have to do anything about it. If you want to stay, speak to Gerard and find out a little bit more and ask any questions.

“I came in and Phil Thompson and Gerard Houllier were in the room, and they said: 'The club had accepted a fee. You can speak to your agent, whatever way you want to do it. We'd love to keep you, we love you and love having you around the place'.

“So I asked the question 'you've brought in a player from over the road in Xavier who's coming to the end of his career, is this the way this football club is going? I know you can never guarantee me games, but I just want to know where I stand'.

“Gerard just said that he (Xavier) was going to get more game time than I was. I was like 'wow', that was a big blow for me. From the season before, having one of my best seasons for the club, I just wanted to kick on from there.

“I wanted to play every single game for this football club, and then I get told that. It was tough to take.”

When news gets out that a Liverpool academy graduate is available for transfer, clubs get word fast. It was the same case with Wright.

Despite Sunderland making a bid, other clubs were interested.

While Wright was on international duty with the England youth teams, he trained and worked alongside soon-to-be Chelsea captain John Terry. Wright explains how his fellow defender messaged him about then-Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri wanting him at Stamford Bridge.

“I went to see Sunderland with my agent and there was a shed load of clubs that got to know about it as I was on the way, which was a big surprise to me,” said Wright. “My agent told me that I'm a young lad coming through one of the biggest clubs, there's going to be a lot of status for you.

“I think Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton, Fulham all wanted to know what's going on. Telling me 'don't sign anything until you speak to us as well'.

“Coming through the England Under-18s and Under-21s with John Terry he was like 'don't sign anything, the Tinkerman (Claudio Ranieri) wants you. Speak to me before they make an offer'.”

In the end, Wright moved to Sunderland and later had spells at Coventry, Brentford, Hartlepool and Wrexham. It was here where he began his coaching career as the assistant to Liverpool legend Joey Jones of Wrexham's youth team.

After leaving Wrexham, Wright's career went full circle when he returned to Liverpool as a youth coach. He now works in a scouting and coaching role for the club's Under-9s to Under-13s age group.

“I finished at Wrexham, they wanted me to go into a role of academy manager which was about seven jobs in one,” recalls Wright.

“I came back to Liverpool and spoke to a few people there at the club, I asked if there were any coaching roles here for me. They said at the moment that there wasn't.

“On my way out, I met a couple of people, they just said 'would you do a scouting role?' I said that I didn't know and that I'd have to sit down and talk about it.

“I met one of the leaders at the club who deals with the Under-9s-Under-13s age group at the academy, and that's the role I've been doing for the last three-and-a-half years.

“It's more the younger age groups that I deal with, I didn't think I'd enjoy it but I've absolutely loved it and took it. I've got three young boys, so I get to see my sons.

"My parents worked all their lives and didn't get to see me in my early years, so for me to be able to do that with my kids is brilliant.”