Only 13 players have scored on their Liverpool debut in the 21st century, with Darwin Nunez the latest inductee to an illustrious list. But if not for the much-maligned El Hadji Diouf, there could have been another.
It was the League Cup fourth round at Anfield and Gerard Houllier had named a much-changed side to face Championship side Ipswich Town, as eight players came into the starting XI from the team that had lost at home to Manchester United days earlier.
Diouf was one such player. A £10m summer signing from Lens, brought in to essentially replace the legendary Robbie Fowler after Houllier controversially decided not to sign loanee Nicolas Anelka permanently, cracks were already starting to show for the Senegalese who had only scored three goals from his first 17 appearances for the club.
The forward’s strike-partner that night was 20-year-old Neil Mellor, as Houllier handed the prolific goalscorer at academy and reserves level, boasting 46 goals in 44 reserve games the previous term, his Liverpool debut against the Tractor Boys. Inevitably, the young striker dreamt about capping such a landmark occasion with a debut goal.
With the Reds trailing 1-0 to an early Tommy Miller goal, Mellor thought his moment was about to come after he was brought down in the box by defender Mark Venus in front of the Kop. Houllier had selected him for penalty duty that night, and this was his chance to open his account at the first time of asking in front of Liverpool’s iconic stand.
Diouf had other ideas. Ignoring manager instruction, he grabbed the ball and took the spot-kick himself to equalise. He’d also scored the winning penalty as the Reds progressed to the quarter-finals after a shoot-out victory, as Mellor watched on from the bench after already being substituted.
He would get his first goal later in the tournament of course, scoring in a semi-final first leg defeat to Sheffield United. But it was Diouf who levelled scores on aggregate back at Anfield, before impressing in the 2-0 victory over bitter-rivals Manchester United in the final.
An unused substitute against the Blades at Anfield, Mellor then did not make the matchday squad for the showpiece clash at the Millennium Stadium.
Admittedly, who knows if things would have turned out differently if the young striker had not been denied his moment by Diouf, with there no guarantee he would have even scored from 12 yards. But looking back, over two decades later, it remains a surreal and bittersweet experience for Mellor from the night he made his Liverpool debut.
He was a player who had to prove his price-tag,” Mellor said of Diouf in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “I won a penalty, I was on penalties. Gerard Houllier, sadly no longer with us, had said I was on penalties.
“But he didn’t speak English, Diouf, so maybe he didn’t understand that I was on pens. We were losing 1-0 at the time. It wasn’t to be for me, but I should have been on pens.
“It didn’t really work out for Diouf at Liverpool. In the dressing room, his relationship with big characters didn’t work out.
“I didn’t socialise with him, I just didn’t socialise with him. We were in different social circles. The fact he didn’t speak English didn’t help him integrate into that dressing room.
“What might have been for me that day, unfortunately, making my debut. At least I won the pen, I did win the pen.”
Fortunately for Mellor, there would be other memorable moments. After Diouf was discarded to Bolton Wanderers on loan by new manager Rafa Benitez, the young striker would score a respectable five goals from 16 appearances during the 2004/05 season.
Such strikes included an iconic last-minute winner against champions Arsenal in front of the Kop, while he’d also deliver a vital goal and assist in Liverpool’s decisive 3-1 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League group-stages.
Injury would ultimately end Mellor’s season just weeks later after he underwent surgery on both knees, with such a setback ultimately the beginning of the end of his Liverpool career. Yet he’ll always have that famous Anfield European night against Olympiacos.
He’d then belatedly be able to celebrate with his colleagues on the pitch after Fernando Morientes was forced to get out his passport to prove his identity and persuade a steward to let them all join the celebrating Reds. Yet from the highs of celebrating in Istanbul, he was then unable to join the Liverpool squad for the victory parade back in Merseyside after his flight did not return to Liverpool in time.
“It was amazing, it was nice to share the moment with my team-mates,” he said. “Ultimately I’ve seen them every day, I have breakfast with them, trained with them, played matches.
“They were my mates. And they achieved the ultimate by winning the Champions League. I wanted to be on the pitch with them to share that, and Morientes helped us all get on the pitch.
“Being on the podium when Steven Gerrard lifted the trophy was a memory that I’ll never forget. To share it with the fans inside Istanbul was great.
“But we missed the parade. That’s a sore subject, that’s a sore subject. We missed it. There were two separate flights.
“They got changed and there were 16 or 17 that were on a different flight. We arrived back at Anfield before them, but we missed the parade.”
After a half-season loan stint with Wigan Athletic, Mellor was sold to Preston North End in a £1.5m deal in August 2006. His injury 18 months earlier had ultimately ensured he was no longer part of Benitez’s plans.
And he wouldn’t even hold talks with his manager to decide his future, with his own experience shedding a different light on the cut-throat nature of football transfers.
“I think fans have a perception that when you leave a club, a manager will say, ‘thanks very much for everything’,” said Mellor. “But I didn’t speak to Rafa at all about it.
“It was the chief scout. He asked me what club I wanted to sign for. I was no longer part of the plans at Liverpool because of the injury that I had had. That was how the exit happened.
“Okay, fair enough. That’s how football is. There is no emotional send-off to say thanks very much. There are loads of stories of players leaving like that, and unfortunately for me it was one of those.”
Now working in the media for Sky Sports and LFC TV, Mellor is able to follow his former club closely. And as a former striker himself, he is excited by the striking options Jurgen Klopp currently has at his disposal.
Like Mellor’s former team-mate Diouf, Darwin Nunez has struggled with learning English since joining the Reds last year. But the Uruguayan’s situation is chalk and cheese to the controversial Senegalese over 20 years ago.
And convinced Nunez has everything he needs to be an elite striker after improving his defensive side of the game, Mellor has made a big prediction about Liverpool’s new number nine.
“Their attacking options are brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” Mellor said. “I think that’s it’s going to be important for Liverpool, if they are to achieve success this year, that they have everybody fully fit, so they can fire on all fronts.
“Nunez, we talk about struggles learning the language, but if he learns the language even better, that will help him.
“The fans love him. He’s aggressive, he’s quick, he’s strong, and loves scoring goals. He’s everything you want in a centre-forward. He’s now doing the defensive side of the game which the manager wants him to do.
“All of a sudden he has really improved as a player and he will score goals. I hope he stays injury-free. I look at 20 goals, and I think he is a player that can get over that barrier for Liverpool this season.”
