Top 10 players never to win a major club trophy: Kuyt, Torres, Cahill, Moses, Finney and more

Since Bill Shankly's Liverpool made the transition from the mid-1960s title-winning team of Yeats, Hunt and St John to the 1970s trophy-winning vintage of Thompson, Keegan and Toshack, no Reds first-team regular has gone as long as Dirk Kuyt without collecting a winner's medal. Kuyt was signed by Rafa Benitez at the start of the 2006/07 season, with Liverpool fresh from back-to-back Champions League and FA Cup triumphs, but the closest Kuyt has come to picking up silverware was coming off the bench to score a consolation in the Reds' 2007 Champions League final defeat to AC Milan.

In 250 appearances for Liverpool and counting, Kuyt has scored 67 goals, but a winner's medal has so far eluded him at Anfield (he did win one Dutch Cup in 2003) and he's closing in on an unwanted record currently held by the late Emlyn Hughes, who was signed by Shankly in 1967. Hughes joined one year after Liverpool had won their second title in three seasons, sandwiched by an FA Cup success, but had to wait six years until 1973 to taste success himself in the League and UEFA Cup.

The list of top class players who've struggled to win a medal at club level extends far beyond Kuyt, however, as talkSPORT reveals...

1) JOHNNY HAYNES

Pele described England captain Johnny Haynes as the "best passer of the ball I've ever seen" and there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented midfielders to play for the national team. In 18 years at Fulham between 1952 and 1970, Haynes played a club-record 658 games and scored 158 goals, inspiring the Cottagers to an extended spell in the top flight, but the club never came close to winning anything in his time there. Haynes' excellence at club level was rewarded with 56 England caps, 22 as captain, in which he scored 18 times, while he is also remembered as the first footballer to earn £100-a-week, after the 'maximum wage' rule in football (of £20-a-week) was abolished in 1961. Haynes actually had the opportunity to join Arsenal in 152 but chose Fulham; the Gunners won the title that year, although Haynes never regretted his decision and is celebrated at Craven Cottage with a statue outside the ground and a stand named in his honour.

2) TOM FINNEY

Sir Thomas Finney was born in Preston on a street next to Deepdale and went on to become the finest player not only to grace that particular ground, but one of the finest English football has ever produced. He never left his home town team, spending his entire 14 year club career at Preston, playing 433 games and scoring 187 goals. He was also a key player for England, earning 76 caps and scoring 30 goals between 1946 and 1958, remarkably making his international debut less than a month after playing his first league game. Finney came close to winning the FA Cup with Preston in 1954, losing a close final to West Brom, but ended his playing days without a winner's medal.

3) MATT LE TISSIER

Le Tissier was, alongside Paul Gascoigne, probably the most skillful English attacking player of his generation, but unlike Gazza he never signed for one of the game's biggest clubs, spending his entire professional career at Southampton. This earned Le Tissier legendary status among Saints fans, but probably cost him the chance of winning silverware. Nicknamed 'Le God' by fans of the south coast club, Le Tissier was renowned for his spectacular goals and his ability to score penalties, converting 47 of the 48 spot kicks he took during his professional career. Barcelona's Xavi says that Le Tiss was his idol when he was growing up because "his talent was out of the norm. He could dribble past seven or eight players, but without speed, he just walked past them. For me he was sensational." After turning down moves to Chelsea and boyhood club Tottenham, Le Tissier never won a major tournament, but he did win the enduring affection of Southampton supporters.

4) Tim Cahill

Tim Cahill started his senior career in England with Millwall and was part of their team that went all the way to the FA Cup final before losing to Manchester United, which would prove to be just about as close as he would come to winning a major club trophy, even after joining Everton for £1.5million in 2004. He has played a double century of games for the Toffees during his seven seasons at the club, scoring plenty of goals and becoming one of the most highly rated Premier League midfielders during that period, but another FA Cup final defeat, this time for Everton against Chelsea in 2009, is the closest the Aussie international has come to breaking his duck. He did win a Second Division title with Millwall in 2001, but a major medal still eludes Cahill.

5) CLIVE ALLEN

A top level goal scorer throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Clive Allen could only add a handful of England caps to an empty trophy cabinet at the end of his 17 year career; by no means a fair reflection on his prolific goal-scoring feats, particularly at Spurs. Before all the heartache at White Hart Lane, however, it was Tottenham themselves who denied Allen an FA Cup winners medal. The striker had bagged the vital goal in QPR's 1982 FA Cup semi-final triumph over West Brom, only to see Rangers lose 1-0 in a final replay against the Lilywhites, who snapped him up two years later. The 1986/87 campaign was Allen's most prolific at the Lane, notching 49 goals in league and cup competitions, but again it yielded no silverware. They finished third in the First Division, lost the FA Cup final in extra-time against Coventry after Allen had given them an early lead, and were agonisingly squeezed out of the League Cup at the semi-final stage by Arsenal.

6) Fernando Torres

El Nino has, to his credit, secured a Spanish Second Division title with Atletico Madrid in 2001 and - no mean feat this - won Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010, scoring the final winner in the former. Major club honours, on the other hand, have surprisingly eluded the supremely talented Spaniard. In 2007 he moved to Anfield looking for silverware in a Rafael Benitez side who were the cream of Europe in 2005 and FA Cup winners in 2006, as well as Champions League finalists in 2007. Ironically, it was former club Atletico who dumped hot favourites Liverpool out of the 2010 Europa League at the semi final stage, perhaps convincing Torres that trophies would not follow if he stayed at Anfield. A shock move to Stamford Bride in January 2011 also failed to land the striker instant success as Chelsea ended the campaign empty handed and Torres scored just once in 18 games. The Blues now face a battle to challenge the Manchester clubs at home and abroad, not to mention Spain's Barcelona and Real Madrid, if Torres is to finally land a major club prize.

7) Shay Given

Technically, Shay Given has an FA Cup winners medal, but we doubt very much if he counts it as a real success, having sat on the bench when Man City finally ended their own trophy drought in 2011. Undoubtedly one of the top flight's most talented goalkeepers, at 35 years old Given has yet to feature in a trophy-winning side since his professional career began in 1994. The Irishman has represented his country more than 100 times and suffered FA Cup pain with Newcastle in 1998 and 1999; both 2-0 defeats in the final against Arsenal and Man United. Mega rich Man City swooped for his services in February 2009, but the emergence of Joe Hart consigned Given to a substitute's role the following season as City secured the FA Cup trophy, their first major honour since 1976. A 2011 summer move to Aston Villa is unlikely to change the Irishman's fortunes, although stranger things have happened (just ask his current boss Alex McLeish).

8) Scott Parker

Remember that trophy Newcastle won in 2006? Anyone? Well, sadly we do. Technically the Magpies were crowned Intertoto Cup winners with Parker in the side when UEFA farcically crowned whichever team progressed furthest in the UEFA Cup, having qualified via the Intertoto Cup (a tournament so laughable it featured three 'finals'). Luckily, the competition has since been abolished and we aren't obliged to pretend it ever mattered (the Toon only reached the last 16 in Europe that year, after all). Parker, meanwhile, played just four games in Chelsea's 2004/05 title winning campaign under Jose Mourinho, failing to qualify for a winner's medal and he didn't even make the Blues' bench for the League Cup win over Liverpool. A deadline day move to Spurs in August 2011 may finally result in some meaningful silverware for the tough-tackling midfielder, who starred for West Ham last season despite relegation to Championship and picked up a significant individual award as the Football Writers' Player of the Year.

9) MALCOLM MACDONALD

Free-scoring Supermac smashed in more than 120 goals in five years for Newcastle in the 1970s and once hit five goals in one game for England, but couldn't quite fire the Magpies to domestic glory during that prolific period, much like Alan Shearer between 1996-2006. They were 3-0 losers to Liverpool in the 1974 FA Cup final after Mac had wound up the Reds by spouting his mouth off in the build up, unwisely boasting of exactly how much damage he was going to inflict on Bill Shankly's team. Mac was back with Newcastle at Wembley just two years late, but Man City edged them out 2-1 in the 1976 League Cup showpiece. He then moved down south to try his luck with the Gunners, where again he suffered FA Cup agony against unfancied Ipswich in 1978. An injury mid-way through the 1978/79 campaign ended MacDonald's playing career for Arsenal, cruelly denying him a part in their 1979 FA Cup final victory over Man United.

10) REMI MOSES

Remi Moses was a key part of Ron Atkinson's teams at both West Brom and Man United, but was extremely unlucky to miss out on a winner's medal in the 1980s. After helping West Brom to three European qualifications in four seasons, as the Baggies finished regularly near the top of Division One, Moses was signed by United and went on to play 150 games for the Red Devils between 1981 and 1989. He was, however, suspended for their 1983 FA Cup final win over Brighton, then injured when they repeated the success in 1985 against Everton.