6. John Arne Riise

Position: Defender
Squad Number: 6
Date of birth: 24-09-1980
Birth Place: Molde
Previous Clubs: Aalesund, Monaco
Fee: £ 4.6m

Riise became Gerard Houllier's first pre-season signing of June 2001, when the Norwegian signed a five year deal with the Reds.

Liverpool paid £4million to Monaco and a further £600,000 to Riise's former Norwegian club Aalesund to secure his services.

Riise, who can play in defence or midfield, was a regular member of the 1999-2000 title-winning Monaco side until he fell out of favour with coach Claude Puel.

Riise had signed for Monaco from Norwegian side Aalesund in December 1998 but, despite helping his side to the French title, he failed to hold down a regular first-team place last term, making just 16 appearances.

Having looked likely to sign for former boss Jean Tigana at Premiership newcomers Fulham, Riise snubbed the Londoners and even agreed to give up a payment of £75,000 due to him from Aalesund to speed up his transfer to Liverpool.

A favourite with the Anfield faithful, Riise has enjoyed a fine run of form under new boss Rafael Benitez and is under contract to the club until 2007.