Top 5: Spaniards to grace the Premier League

3. Xabi Alonso

The Liverpool icon was much revered by his fans when he played for the Merseyside club, and given his talent it is easy to see why.

Alonso made the £10.8m move from Real Sociedad to Liverpool in 2004, arriving in England as pretty much an unknown commodity.

But despite coming to England with a lowly reputation, Alonso would leave as one of the greatest midfielders to ever play in the Premier League. The Spaniard was mostly known for his passing range, but he also made his mark with spectacular goals.

The midfielder would score two halfway line goals in England – against Luton Town and Newcastle United. He would also enter Liverpool folklore during The Reds’ Champions League triumph in 2005, scoring the third goal to complete the comeback from 3-0 down to 3-3 with AC Milan.

He would later form one of the best midfield trio’s the Premier League has ever seen, playing alongside Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard. However, despite his great success in England, his relationship with Rafael Benitez was strained and after the manager tried to replace him with Gareth Barry (what was he thinking!?), Alonso would eventually leave England to play for Real Madrid.

He would achieve great success after leaving England at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, where he has won a further nine titles, and counting.

Alonso also played a massive role in Spain’s dominance in recent years where they won major trophies in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

The passing maestro has recently announced he will retire from the game at the end of the season, putting an end to a fantastic career, where he has won practically everything there is to win in the ‘beautiful game’.