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Archive footage has emerged of Steven Gerrard playing for Whiston Juniors aged just 12 years old.

ECHO reader Melvyn Syder shared his videos of Steven, which shows him playing in Europe and lifting the team’s winning trophy.

Mr Syder said: “My son played in the same team as Steven at Whiston Juniors when they were 12. I kept all the monthly magazines with match reports and about four hours of video, which I took stills from.

"I enjoyed watching him grow up. He was a great lad on and off the field. He was head and shoulders above the others at football. He could win a match on his own.

"I remember that his legs were very long. He was like a little gazelle. He was very fast. He left the kids for dead with the goal that he scored in the final. He really wanted to win and he didn't like getting beat.

(Image: Melvyn Syder)

"Some of the skills that he had were brilliant. He hit the ball to the side of the player three times and he ran around them. He scored from one of them too. He was streets ahead of them all.

"When he came to Whiston he was getting man-of-the-match awards when playing for the under 10s. He was only eight.

"He was very quiet off the field. We all went on a day trip and he didn't want to go because he just wanted to go home. He didn't like going away. He was very quiet.

"After the Holland trip we did not see him. Liverpool took him on after that."

(Image: Melvyn Syder)

In one of the clips the Reds captain, now 34, is seen playing in a league match against Rainhill United, in the St Helens league. It features stills of match reports written in the monthly Whiston magazine, which details Steven scoring nine goals in one game and playing most of a second half as a goalkeeper.

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Mr Syder’s second video shows Steven and the team on an annual, end of season trip to Holland. The under 12s won the tournament with Gerrard, as captain, scoring in the final.

Thirteen years before he raised the Champions League cup for the Reds in Istanbul, the young Gerrard is seen lifting the trophy for the local team.

(Image: Melvyn Syder)

Gerrard was spotted by Liverpool playing for Whiston aged nine. He continued playing for the local side before signing his first professional contract eight years later, after a period as a trainee.

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