Footballer who smashed Wayne Rooney’s record and played up top with Trent Alexander-Arnold now starring in League Two

GERARD GARNER once broke Wayne Rooney’s goal-scoring schoolboy record – but now stars for League Two side Barrow.

The 25-year-old was pipped to reach the very top as an 11-year-old before partnering up with Trent Alexander-Arnold in a front-two in Liverpool’s academy.

But while Champions League winner Trent has gone on to vice-captain Liverpool, Garner is adored by Barrow fans three divisions below.

The Cumbria outfit were thumped 5-0 by Chelsea in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

But Garner came away with hat-trick hero Christopher Nkunku’s shirt.

When he was 11 years old, the forward smashed Rooney’s all-time Liverpool Boys under-11s goal-scoring record with 76 goals in a season.

And he did with still two games left in Kirby’s 2010-11 season.

Many thought the Manchester United and England forward’s total of 72 goals in the 1996-97 term was unbeatable.

Coincidentally Garner and Rooney also went to the same school in Croxteth- albeit 14 years apart.

Garner told The Athletic in 2022: “You’d get a lot of people saying, ‘He’s gonna play for Liverpool, him’.”

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On his partnership with Trent he said: “One of the best players, but when you see him as a centre-forward, you never think, ‘He’s going to be the best right-back in the world one day’.”

But Garner unfortunately broke his foot while on holiday in Egypt, playing football with some Russian holidaymakers.

That kept him out for a significant amount of time and when he returned it was a transition from nine-a-side to 11-a-side.

It was also then decided that all the Liverpool academy teams would play 4-2-3-1, often forcing him to play out of position.

He left Liverpool when he was 15 years old and joined Fleetwood in 2017.

Garner then caught the attention of Joey Barton, who called him up to the first team.

There were loans to the likes of FC United of Manchester, Southport and Gateshead before Barrow signed him for an undisclosed club-record fee in January 2023.

Garner scored an unbelievable chip against Swindon Town at the start of this season.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk