10 facts about Joe Allen
Joe Allen became Brendan Rodgers' second signing as Liverpool manager today – but how much do you know about the Wales international? Here are 10 interesting facts...
1. Born in the Welsh town of Carmarthen, Allen spent his childhood growing up on the coast in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. Joe is among the one in five Welsh citizens who speak the native language, known as Cymraeg, and can be included in the 10 per cent who are able to converse fluently in the traditional dialect.
2. Allen was just nine years old when he joined Swansea and made his debut as a 17-year-old on the final day of the 2006-07 season. Working under Roberto Martinez and then Paulo Sousa, the midfielder's progression was rapid and he was ready to become a central figure when Brendan Rodgers arrived at the club in 2010. In total, Joe made 138 appearances in a Swansea jersey, bagging seven goals.
3. Allen can boast an impressive set of statistics from the last Barclays Premier League season. The midfielder completed 91 per cent of his passes for Swansea, a higher rate than Barcelona and Spain star Andres Iniesta, and created a chance for a teammate once every 63 minutes, providing four assists. Joe also made 110 tackles, the third-highest in the division.
4. At just 5ft 6in tall, the same height as his new Reds teammate Jay Spearing, Allen was the joint-fourth smallest player to appear in the Barclays Premier League in 2011-12. Only Shaun Wright-Phillips, Aaron Lennon and former Swansea colleague Nathan Dyer were more diminutive than the new Liverpool man.
5. Four years of hard work and learning through Wales youth teams, including U17, U19 and U21 levels, paid off when Joe was handed a maiden cap for his country by former Reds striker John Toshack, against Estonia, in 2009. He has collected a further seven since that debut, the most recent in a friendly with Mexico earlier this year.
6. Despite being incorrectly listed as English in the original match programme, Allen was one of five Welsh players to be selected by Stuart Pearce for the Great Britain team at the London Olympics.
7. Only England and Scotland have provided more players for the Reds than Wales, and Allen is the 29th Welshman to sign for Liverpool, following in the footsteps of previous Anfield greats such as Ian Rush and Toshack. While a quarter of his predecessors were called Jones, the 22-year-old is the first Allen to wear a red shirt.
8. The deal to bring Allen to Anfield was the 10th transfer agreed between Liverpool and Swansea but all of the previous nine had seen players heading to the Welsh club. Allen is therefore the first player to swap the Swans for the Reds, 16 years after the last agreement between the two clubs - which involved Jan Molby leaving on a free transfer.
9. Brendan Rodgers worked with Allen for two years during his time in charge of Swansea, with the young midfielder a key figure in the club's promotion from the Championship and subsequent success in the top flight. Rodgers said in December 2011: "There's no doubt looking into the future that certainly he is going to be a big talent. He is a really clever and intelligent lad who understands where he is in his career and at 21 years of age, he has maybe 14 years ahead of him at a real high level."
10. Joe played the full 90 minutes in both of Swansea's Barclays Premier League fixtures against Liverpool last season - a 0-0 draw at Anfield and a 1-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium. Indeed he was almost an ever-present in the top flight last season, scoring four goals in 36 league appearances during 2011-12.