The Sky Sports pundit was only beginning his Liverpool career when the “world-class wideman” was ending his stint with the club and he’s convinced that if John had been in his prime during his own peak, the club would have won the Premier League.

Asked his favourite player of the last 30 years who he hadn’t played with, he told FourFourTwo magazine: “John Barnes. I did play with him, but only for a half.

“I was 18 and came on as a sub at half time against West Ham at Anfield – me and him played together in central midfield.

“If the prime John Barnes of the 1980s had been in the team I played in under Gerard Houllier or Rafa Benitez, we would have won a Premier League – that was the one area where we fell down.

“We didn’t have a world-class wideman like Manchester United with Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, Damien Duff and Arjeb Robben at Chelsea, or Arsenal with Robert Pires and Marc Overmars.”

Jamie believes the Barcelona team managed by Pep Guardiola between 2008 and 2012 is the best side of recent years.

He said: “I don’t think there’s been a better team than Pep’s Barcelona.

“Real Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo won more Champions Leagues, and the team I used to say was the Milan of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello, but Barcelona with Lionel Messi were the greatest team I’ve seen.”