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Earlier this year as Luke Garbutt’s contract at Everton wound down, the young left-back was linked with a move to neighbours Liverpool on several occasions.

Mischief-making perhaps or was there a grain of truth in the rumours?

Either way, any such switch would have been viewed as hugely controversial.

As the ink dries on Garbutt’s new five-year deal with the Blues we look at the phenomenon of players who did make the switch across Stanley Park.

Liverpool have conducted more transfers with Everton than any other club but the once relatively common route for many players appears to have become a ‘no go’ area in recent years.

In a similar vein to the unofficial transfer embargo that exists between the Reds and Manchester United, has the rivalry between our two local Premier League sides become so intense that direct business between Anfield and Goodison is no longer deemed acceptable?

Back in the day (whenever that was exactly), the Merseyside Derby was of course known as ‘The Friendly Derby’ but those halcyon days - if they ever truly existed - are now long-gone.

But have they also taken the prospect of senior players moving between Everton and Liverpool with them?

In a similar vein to the way that we have largely lost the casual supporter who would watch their football at Goodison one Saturday then Anfield the next to be replaced partisan, tribal followers of one or the other, it seems the prospect of any future player deals between the two clubs has also evaporated.

The last to cross the park – a true one-off

The last player to move directly between the Blues and Reds was the colourful Mozambique-born Portugal international Abel Xavier.

A Peroxide-haired (including the beard) footballing version of King Neptune, Xavier was stalling on a new deal at Goodison when Liverpool pounced to nick him in an £800,000 deal.

The much-travelled defender had started his career in Portugal with Estrela da Amadora and Benfica before having spells in Italy (Bari and Roma), Spain (Real Oviedo), the Netherlands (PSV Eindhoven), Turkey (Galatasaray), Germany (Hannover) and then back in England with Middlesbrough before finishing in Major League Soccer when Steven Gerrard’s new club Los Angeles Galaxy.

Being one of the game’s true nomads, Xavier probably took his move from Everton to Liverpool in his stride and after failing to net for the Blues in 49 outings, he netted the opener on his Reds debut in a 6-0 mauling of Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

He also became the first player to turn out for both clubs in derby matches in the same season.

The six worst words for Bill

While there were mutual benefits to the Xavier move as Everton were happy to get some cash for a player they might have soon lost for free and Liverpool were glad to plug a defensive gap due to Markus Babbel’s illness, just 18 months earlier there had been an all-together more divisive transfer between the clubs.

Everton’s then-record £5.75million signing Nick Barmby had rocked the Blues by rejecting the most lucrative contract offer in the club’s history at that time and declaring that he wanted to fulfil a ‘boyhood dream’ and play for the Reds.

Bill Kenwright, who had taken control of the club the previous season, said: “If my highest high this year was taking the telephone call from my lawyers to tell me I had finally got Everton, the lowest low was hearing the news about Nick Barmby.

“It was hearing he had used six of the worst words in the English language as far as Everton fans are concerned. He had said ‘I want to play for Liverpool’.

“To say I was shocked and surprised doesn’t begin to describe how I felt about it.”

Not only did Barmby’s admission shock Kenwright it was also something of a kick in the teeth for the Goodison chief who had personally written a letter that year to England coach Kevin Keegan pleading to give the player an international recall.

To add further salt into the wounds for Evertonians, after completing his £6million switch Barmby promptly opened the scoring in the next derby, taking just 12 minutes to find the net in a 3-1 win at Anfield.

No qualms for Kendall

There was a 31-year gap between any players moving directly from Goodison to Anfield before Barmby’s move caused plenty of bad blood but in the same period a total of six Reds became Blues.

Everton’s most successful manager Howard Kendall – who as a player had been widely-tipped to join Liverpool from Preston North End before eventually joining the Blues – had no qualms about bringing in new recruits from his local rivals and added to his squad from Anfield on no fewer than five occasions.

Kendall raided the Reds on three occasions in the space of a year during his first spell in charge and while the returning former Blue David Johnson failed to hit the heights, £100,000 bargain buy Kevin Sheedy became one of Goodison’s all-time greats, with the Republic of Ireland winger netting 97 times in 369 games for the club.

Sheedy became revered in the game for his cultured left-foot although there wasn’t much cultured about the v-sign he delivered to the Kop after a trademark free-kick belter.

Also snapped up during this period was Alan Harper who despite not making a first team appearance at Anfield, went on to become a valuable and versatile squad member of Everton’s successful sides of the mid-1980s.

The first summer after Kendall returned to Goodison for a second spell as manager, he unearthed another gem who had become surplus to requirements at the Reds.

Peter Beardsley was made available by Graeme Souness after the Scot had signed Dean Saunders – under the Blues noses – for £2.9million, and Kendall gratefully snapped him up for a bargain £1million.

Although Everton had modest mid-table finishes in his two years at Goodison, Beardsley’s personal form was impressive and he netted 20 times in his first season.

He also joined the aforementioned Johnson as the only man to net a Merseyside Derby winner for both sides and the Blues were probably left feeling they let him go too soon as well after he returned to home city club Newcastle United for £1.5million in 1993.

Just six months after snapping up Beardsley, Kendall was at it again as he lured Gary Ablett to Goodison Park for £750,000 in January 1992.

The left-sided defender became the only man to win the FA Cup with both clubs, playing for the Blues in their 1995 success against Manchester United having beaten Everton with Liverpool in the 1989 final.

Ablett also enjoyed coaching stints at both Goodison and Anfield before losing his battle with cancer on New Year’s Day 2012 aged 46.

You must be a hard man to take the plunge

A generation earlier, Bill Shankly threatened to resign as Liverpool manager when Johnny Morrissey was sold to Everton for £10,000 without his permission.

Although the 22-year-old had been unable to dislodge Alan A’Court from the Reds side, he developed into a Goodison great – winning two League Championships with the Blues, netting 50 times in 314 appearances during a decade-long stay.

He also earned a reputation for being the hardest winger in the game with Jimmy Greaves remarking: “He always got his retaliation in first!”

Whereas Morrissey had been a young fringe player at Anfield with his best years ahead of him, there was uproar on both sides of Stanley Park when Dave Hickson ‘The Cannonball Kid’ – worshipped by Goodison fans living embodiment of the Evertonian cause – was sold to Liverpool for £12,000 in 1959.

Reds supporters had always claimed not to have had much time for Hickson but with their side struggling in the Second Division, his debut added an extra 15,000 on the gate as he bagged a brace in a 2-1 win over another of his former clubs Aston Villa.

Hickson netted 21 goals in 27 League games that season and added another 16 in 33 the following year but then made way for Shankly’s new centre-forward Ian St John.

Hard labour for a dodgy bet and from making the news to selling it

Going further back there was firmly steady flow of talent between the two clubs and football’s early years throw up some intriguing characters.

Preston-born Dick Forshaw netted 124 times in 288 games for Liverpool between 1919-1927 before joining Everton and became the only player to win the League Championship with both clubs (1922 and 1923 with the Reds and 1928 with the Blues).

However, he hit trouble in retirement having been sent to prison in 1932 having been found to have amended a winning betting slip from £2 to £20 by adding the 0 on himself.

The court heard that having hung up his boots the year before, Forshaw had been a failed commission agent and ran a fish and chip shop in London with his wife.

He was deemed to have acted with “peculiar meanness” and was sentenced to 12 months’ hard labour.

The first ever player to move between the clubs was Scotsman Tom Wyllie, born in Maybole, South Ayshire.

Having played for Everton between 1890-92, Wyllie did not cross Stanley Park as such because Everton (they still weren’t the Blues), were still playing their home games at Anfield.

Wyllie joined the newly-formed Liverpool in 1892 and had the distinction of netting the first ever goal in a meeting between the sides in a 1-0 victory in the Liverpool Senior Cup final on April 22, 1893.

After retiring in 1898 he moved to the Bristol district of Bedminster where he became a newsagent.