Driven, decisive and blessed with one of the greatest left foot strikes we may ever see, Kewell featured in Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League victory, the 2006 FA Cup triumph and played a big part in legitimising Australia’s reputation in the football world.

Growing up in Western Sydney, Kewell played many sports as a child, but excelled in football from an early age, playing for Smithfield Hotspur before joining the Marconi Stallions as a highly-touted teenager.

As a 15-year-old he made the giant leap, crossing the globe to pursue his ambitions in England with fellow youngster Brett Emerton. Trialling for a month with Leeds United’s youth team, it was a massive journey he took without fear.

“I wasn’t scared - I was so excited," he said. "I couldn’t wait to get on the plane. Football was something that I wanted to do at a very early age and I was ready for it.

"I was only doing something that I loved, and I had an opportunity to fulfil a dream. I was never going to let that dream go.”

Successful, Kewell officially signed for the English club, and in 1996, at just 17 he made his first team debut against Middlesbrough. The following year he made 35 appearances for the club and scored eight goals.

That season, Kewell also became the youngest Socceroos debutant with his first cap against Chile. He scored in both legs of the agonising World Cup qualifying tie defeat to Iran in 1997.

The following seasons at Leeds, Kewell played arguably the best football of his career, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award and was selected in the PFA Team of the Year, which prompted giant clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea, AC Milan and Bayern Munich to make lucrative, but unsuccessful, bids for his signature.

In 2001, Kewell played in a Champions League semi-final for Leeds, losing to Valencia, before the club lost most of its players prior to being relegated to the second division. From there he signed for one of the most successful clubs in world football, Liverpool, the team he supported as a child.