It’s already been a strange summer transfer window, and it could take yet another unexpected turn, with Manchester City pushing to sign Cody Gakpo from Liverpool.
Gakpo is a dangerous and versatile forward who is capable of big moments, but he’s never truly established himself as a starter at Anfield. However, he has the opportunity to do that this season following the mass exodus of talent from Liverpool over the last couple of years, with Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez departing since last summer.
But in a strange twist of fate, this might be the exact moment when he departs Merseyside, with Man City reportedly willing to offer an incredible £85m for the Netherlands international.
Should he move to the Etihad, Gakpo would join a long list of players to have represented both Liverpool and Man City in the Premier League era. Here, we’ve ranked the top 10 on the strength of their spells at each club combined.
10. David James
- Position: Goalkeeper
- Liverpool appearances: 277
- Man City appearances: 100
David James unfairly picked up the nickname ‘Calamity James’ during his career. Yes, he did have the habit of dropping the occasional clanger, but overall, he was a very capable goalkeeper — you don’t pick up 53 caps for England or play nearly 300 games for a club like Liverpool without having a high baseline.
James was part of the 1995 League Cup-winning side with Liverpool in an Anfield tenure spanning seven years. He later helped Man City twice avoid relegation during his two-and-a-half years there, while keeping 11 clean sheets and conceding just 39 goals in 38 games as they climbed to eighth in 2004/05 — a notable achievement in a very different era for the club.
Of course, none of that matches up to Stuart Pearce deploying him as an emergency striker in the final game of 04/05 against Middlesbrough as City desperately tried to snatch a Europe-sealing win. James was dreadful as a No. 9, and the match ended 1-1. Pearce’s gamble is made all the more embarrassing when you consider he had an outfield shirt with James’ name on it already prepared—proving this was planned—all while having a £5m striker sitting unused on the bench in Jon Macken.
9. Craig Bellamy
- Position: Forward
- Liverpool appearances: 79
- Man City appearances: 51
Craig Bellamy enjoyed two notable tenures at Anfield, helping them win the Community Shield and reach a Champions League final in 2006/07, and win the League Cup and reach an FA Cup final in 2011/12.
Sandwiched between was a short but productive spell at Man City between 2009 and 2010, during which he registered 15 goals and 15 assists in 51 appearances. Bellamy — who could play across the forward line — was one of Man City’s biggest signings of the very early Khaldoon Al Mubarak era, as they started to climb toward the elite.
8. Kolo Toure
- Position: Centre-back
- Liverpool appearances: 71
- Man City appearances: 102
Having already enjoyed incredible success with Arsenal, Kolo Toure joined Man City in 2009 and went on to win a Premier League title and a Community Shield across four seasons.
Toure never truly held down his place at the Etihad Stadium, however, and ultimately left for Liverpool in 2013. Incredibly, the Ivorian almost helped Liverpool snatch the title from City in his first season at Anfield, and he went on to become a cult hero for the Reds.
7. Nicolas Anelka
- Position: Forward
- Liverpool appearances: 22
- Man City appearances: 103
Nicolas Anelka had a short but promising loan spell at Liverpool early in his career, yielding five goals in 22 appearances. However, after also turning out for the likes of Arsenal, Real Madrid and PSG, it was at Man City where he truly found his feet.
The Frenchman netted 45 goals in 103 appearances across all competitions between 2002 and 2005, including Premier League returns of 14 and 16 in his only two full campaigns. He left for Fenerbahce in January 2005, but it wasn’t long until he returned to English football, making a huge impact at Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea.
6. Daniel Sturridge
- Position: Striker
- Liverpool appearances: 160
- Man City appearances: 32
Daniel Sturridge was a force of nature during his first 18 months at Liverpool, scoring 35 goals in 49 appearances across all competitions. That includes 21 goals in 29 Premier League appearances in 2013/14 as Brendan Rodgers’ Reds nearly won the title, playing alongside Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling in a terrifying forward line.
Injuries sadly started to derail Sturridge’s career following that title near-miss, and to this day, he remains one of English football’s biggest ‘what ifs’. By this time, he’d already played 32 times for Man City as an academy graduate, with his path to Anfield taking him through Chelsea and Bolton.
5. Steve McManaman
- Position: Winger
- Liverpool appearances: 364
- Man City appearances: 44
Steve McManaman is quite possibly one of the most underappreciated footballers of all time. An electrifying winger, he spent his prime years winning FA Cup and League Cup titles with Liverpool across 364 appearances. Then, he went to Real Madrid and became the first English player to win the Champions League with a foreign club — doing so twice — including scoring a spectacular volley and being named Man of the Match in Los Blancos’ 2000 final victory over Spanish rivals Valencia.
McManaman returned to England after four stunning years in the Spanish capital that also produced two La Liga titles, joining Manchester City in 2003. He was well past his prime, however, and managed just one assist and no goals in 44 appearances. That is why he falls down the ranking here.
Somehow, McManaman only picked up 37 caps for England, with even former Real Madrid teammate Zinedine Zidane calling for him to be named in the Three Lions’ 2002 World Cup squad. Sven-Goran Eriksson chose to omit him.
4. Dietmar Hamann
- Position: Central midfielder
- Liverpool appearances: 280
- Man City appearances: 71
Dietmar Hamann served as Liverpool’s midfield anchor for seven years, playing 280 games and winning multiple major honours. The most famous, of course, was the 2004/05 Champions League title, changing the final against AC Milan from the bench at half-time, while converting Liverpool’s first penalty in the shootout despite having a broken foot.
Hamann joined Man City in 2006, and while he never quite reached his previous heights, he provided solidity and experience in their midfield for three years.
3. Robbie Fowler
- Position: Striker
- Liverpool appearances: 369
- Man City appearances: 92
So ruthlessly effective was Robbie Fowler during his first spell at Liverpool that he was nicknamed ‘God’. Criminally under-capped for England, the pacy striker scored a total of 183 goals during his two stays with the Reds, ranking him seventh for the club all-time.
Even in his surprise second stint at Anfield, he had an impressive return of 12 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions, helping Liverpool reach a Champions League final.
Between those spells, Fowler played for Leeds United and, of course, Man City. He was held back by fitness issues at the latter, but still managed a highly respectable 28 goals in 92 games.
2. Raheem Sterling
- Position: Winger
- Liverpool appearances: 129
- Man City appearances: 339
Raheem Sterling emerged as a flawed yet very exciting talent at Liverpool, playing a major role in that aforementioned 2013/14 title push.
However, it was his controversial move to Manchester City in 2015 that truly unlocked his potential. Across seven years at the Etihad, Sterling hit 131 goals and 87 assists in 339 appearances, winning four Premier League titles and a host of domestic cups. In fact, he sits 11th on Man City’s list of all-time top goalscorers, with Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland the only post-1980s players ahead of him.
1. James Milner
- Position: Central midfielder, full-back, winger
- Liverpool appearances: 332
- Man City appearances: 203
James Milner is officially listed as a central midfielder, but the only outfield position he didn’t play in during his long career was centre-back, according to Transfermarkt.
That was a large part of Milner’s importance, being able to slot him in at any position and know you’ll get a committed and reliable performance.
It’s also why he made over 500 appearances for Liverpool and Man City combined, with his total haul for the two clubs including three Premier League titles, a Champions League and three domestic cups.
Milner is a true Premier League legend and became a cornerstone of Jurgen Klopp’s successful Liverpool side, having already been severely underrated in Man City’s breakthrough to dominance.
Honourable mentions: Mario Balotelli, Scott Carson, Albert Riera, Nigel Clough, Mark Kennedy