in British transfer history, at only 20 years old. Liverpool Kirkland made his debut for Liverpool in October 2001, but mostly served as understudy to first-choice goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek during the 2001–02 season. He was an unused substitute in the 2002 FA Community Shield at the Millennium Stadium, where Liverpool were beaten 1–0 by Arsenal. During the 2002–03 season, costly errors by Dudek in a league fixture against Manchester United resulted in manager Gérard Houllier handing the first team place to Kirkland in December. He played 14 consecutive matches, during which he kept six clean sheets, but sustained an ankle injury in January 2003, which ruled him out for the rest of the season, meaning he missed the victorious 2003 League Cup Final. He spent six weeks out of action after tearing his groin whilst on England under-21 duty in September 2003. He fractured a finger in December 2003, and was ruled out of action for four months after undergoing surgery to repair it. Kirkland ousted Dudek as first-choice Liverpool keeper at the beginning of the 2004–05 season, and played 14 matches before he was again sidelined in December after succumbing to a long-standing back injury. He had played four Champions League matches but was unable to be named in the squad for the 2005 final due to injury; Scott Carson, who took his place on the bench in Istanbul, later offered his Champions League winners medal to Kirkland, who refused to accept it. In July 2005, Kirkland agreed to go on a season-long loan to Bryan Robson's West Bromwich Albion in order to kick-start his career again. He kept a clean sheet on his Albion debut as the team drew 0–0 away at Manchester City. An injury to Kirkland in the first half of the 2005–06 season saw Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak replace him, and Kuszczak showed excellent form and therefore remained first-choice goalkeeper at The Hawthorns for the rest of the season. Kirkland also again spent time out of action with a broken finger, and was told by Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez that he would have to move away from Anfield if he wanted to play regular first team football as new signing Pepe Reina had made an excellent start to his Liverpool career. Wigan Athletic In July 2006, Kirkland joined Wigan Athletic on a six-month loan spell. Manager Paul Jewell said that "He certainly has the potential,