Ranked: Top-scoring Liverpool midfielders ever

Liverpool have had some incredible midfielders in their history - some of the best in English football history. Here are the top scorers.

Liverpool have a history going back over 125 years now, so there have certainly been a few midfielders at the club in that time. Some of them have been fantastic goalscorers for the club, too, be it through longevity or simply having that goalscoring knack.

But who has scored the most in Red? Here are the top 10 goalscoring midfielders in the history of Liverpool Football Club.

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10. Steve McMahon (50 goals)

Steve McMahon was Kenny Dalglish's first signing as Liverpool manager and had the near-impossible job of replacing Graeme Souness in 1985. While those were heights beyond just about anyone, McMahon still played an important role in an all-time great Reds team.

He scored 50 goals from midfield across 277 appearances, winning three league titles in the process.

9. Philippe Coutinho (54 goals)

It's debatable whether Philippe Coutinho was actually a midfielder - he played as a no.10 or a winger for Liverpool. Technically, though, he was an attacking midfielder.

He was also an excellent one and his last couple of years at Liverpool were spectacular. He scored 54 goals in 201 games, establishing himself as the Reds' star player. Of course, Coutinho threw it all away by forcing a move to Barcelona that ultimately ended his career as an elite footballer. Liverpool did use the £142m well, though.

8. Graeme Souness (55 goals)

Graeme Souness might be the greatest midfielder to ever play for Liverpool - some would argue he is. He's certainly one of the greatest and most successful seen in English football.

A former captain who was a key player in five league titles and three European Cups, Souness scored six times en route to the 1981 European Cup. That was enough to finish as joint top-scorer in the competition that year.

7. Jan Molby (61 goals)

A proper goalscoring midfielder, Jan Molby bagged 19 goals in all competitions across his first full season. The Dane didn't quite hit those heights again but he was a consistent goalscorer across a long Liverpool career.

Molby got 61 in total, including 44 in the league alone. Of course, a chunk of the goals were penalties - including a hattrick of them against Coventry in a League Cup tie.

6. Ian Callaghan (68 goals)

When you play 857 games for a club, you'll likely pop up with a few goals. Ian Callaghan is Liverpool's all-time top appearance-maker and so it makes sense that his games-per-goal ratio is by far the highest of anyone on this list - 12.6 games for each goal.

And yet, he's still right up there with the best, such was his remarkable longevity. Callaghan was there when Liverpool won promotion from the Second Division in 1962 and was there when the Reds won back-to-back European Cups in 1977 and 1978. One of a kind.

5. Ray Kennedy (72 goals)

Ray Kennedy's an interesting one. Liverpool signed him from Arsenal as a forward but Bill Shankly resigned literally on the day Kennedy arrived. Bob Paisley saw him more as a midfielder but the goalscoring instincts were still there.

He was a consistent goal threat, too, winning five league titles and three European Cups. Kennedy offered a fantastic extra dimension to Liverpool's attack and his 72 goals were a big reason for all the legendary success.

4. Ronnie Whelan (73 goals)

Ronnie Whelan debuted for Liverpool in 1981 and continued at the club through 1994, scoring at least one goal in every single season. Another from the dominant decades at Anfield, the Irishman finished his time at the club with six league titles, three FA Cups and a European Cup medal.

More impressively, Whelan was also a defender from time to time. He still managed 73 goals, including two 10-goal league seasons.

3. Jimmy Melia (79 goals)

Jimmy Melia is unlike anyone else on the list as most of his goals came in the Second Division. He debuted in 1954 - scoring - and spend a decade in Liverpool's first team.

That included winning the Second Division in '62 before also picking up a First Division one the year he left in '64. An important player across the defining period in Liverpool's history.

2. Terry McDermott (81 goals)

Terry McDermott wasn't a prolific goalscorer at all across his first few seasons at Liverpool but absolutely exploded at the end. His final three campaigns brought about 16, 22, and 20 goals from midfield.

No midfielder in Liverpool's history have hit those kinds of numbers consistently. Of course, it also contributed to the most successful period of any English side ever. An all-time great player, only one midfielder has more goals than McDermott for the Reds.

1. Steven Gerrard (186 goals)

A record that's never being broken? It's difficult to envisage anyone doing it given no one is even remotely close. Gerrard has 24 more goals than double second place.

710 games certainly makes it easier but Gerrard's games-per-goal ratio is also considerably higher than nearly everyone else mentioned (3.82). The Scouser was simply a sensational goalscorer and one of the finest finishers to ever play for Liverpool.

And maybe most uniquely, Gerrard got these goals across numerous positions in midfield. Some were as a box-to-box player at the start of his career, then on the right flank (a 23-goal season), before some fantastic years as an attacking midfielder before double-digit goals as a holding player.

A player the likes of which we'll never see again.