According to The Athletic, Manchester United and Liverpool have not completed a major player transfer between them for over 60 years, with the last occurring in 1964 when Phil Chisnall moved to Liverpool for £25,000. However, recent youth player transfers suggest this stalemate may be breaking down at academy level.

Last week, Isaac Conder left Liverpool's U18 squad to join Manchester United, attracting significant attention. The 16-year-old, who made six appearances for Liverpool last season, signed a five-year contract with Manchester United on Wednesday and will join their U18 team under Darren Fletcher. In 2021, another promising player, Ethan Ennis, made the same move to Stoke City in the Championship after leaving Manchester United. Notably, Ennis was the first player to transfer between the two clubs in 57 years.

Despite many close calls, no senior player transfer between Manchester United and Liverpool has occurred in over 60 years, since Phil Chisnall's £25,000 move (approximately $33,000 in today's money) to Anfield in 1964. Although the two clubs are geographically close in northwest England, with most Liverpool players living near Manchester, and both teams compete for the same talent, the two most-supported clubs in England have never done business at senior level.

Gabriel Heinze stands out as the most notable recent case — nearly two decades ago, he was widely expected to move to Merseyside — while Gary Neville once confronted Dirk Kuyt when hearing the Dutch winger might join Liverpool. However, Chisnall remains the last senior player to successfully make the move.

In 2004, I visited Chisnall (who died in 2012 at age 78) at his home in Urmston, a suburb west of Manchester, not far from where I grew up.

Locally, he was known both as a factory worker at the Stretford Road Malt Loaf plant and as a former Manchester United player — he made 47 appearances as a forward for United, scoring 10 goals alongside legends like Denis Law, David Herd, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Bobby Styles, and Johnny Giles.

Chisnall, a Manchester United fan from Stretford south of Old Trafford, signed as a youth player with the local club two months after the Munich air disaster in 1958. He represented Lancashire and England at schoolboy level, played alongside Styles in United's youth team, and made his senior debut at age 19. "We'd have steak and chips before the game," he recalled of his first appearance in 1961 against Everton. "Then we lost 5-1, but I still got to play."

Chisnall earned £12 per week as a Manchester United senior player and lost his place during the 1963-64 season, prompting Liverpool to make an offer. It wasn't big news and caused barely a stir. He faced no criticism from supporters of either club.

"Busby told me he'd had an offer from Shankly (Bill Shankly, Liverpool's manager), but no one forced me out," he explained. "I was only 22 and, right or wrong, I decided to move. I thought I'd break into Liverpool's first team and my career would take off again.

"Sitting in the room watching Busby and Shankly discuss my future was a special feeling. They were like father and son with great respect for each other."

At Liverpool, Chisnall became known for a different reason over the next decade — he was the first player ever filmed touching the ball during the opening of Match of the Day on BBC in early 1964-65. However, he struggled at Anfield, making only a handful of appearances.

"Perhaps I wasn't aggressive enough," he said. "I saw football as just a game, a nice way to make money and enjoy life — not a matter of life and death." Yet he became part of history, unintentionally.

"I'm surprised no player has moved since then," Chisnall said. "But the rivalry wasn't as intense back then. Liverpool were champions in 1964, but they'd only been promoted in 1962, and Manchester United were the bigger club."

In the decades that followed, not only have no players transferred between Manchester United and Liverpool, but even being linked with Anfield became enough to cause unease at Old Trafford.

"It was baseless, but Gary Neville walked into the dressing room and confronted me about reports linking me to Liverpool," Dutch winger Dirk Kuyt confirmed. "He told me I couldn't sign with 'them.' I was winding him up a bit, and he got very angry.

"But I understood. Moving from Ajax to Feyenoord (in his native country) was seen as bad, like moving from Barcelona to Real Madrid or from Manchester United to Liverpool."

Gabriel Heinze, Argentina's central defender, was one player who genuinely wanted to move from Old Trafford to Anfield.

"When I returned for preseason in 2007, Gabriel told the players he was going to Liverpool," Manchester United teammate Patrice Evra said. "He said goodbye to us, and we watched him pack his boots."

The French defender may not have fully grasped the intensity of the rivalry — he'd only arrived from Monaco the year before — but he understood it wouldn't work. The case went to Premier League arbitration, with Liverpool arguing they should be allowed to sign Heinze and Manchester United accusing Liverpool of illegal contact.

Sir Alex Ferguson held firm. With Liverpool pushing a £6.8 million deal, he declared: "I can assure you Liverpool will not get Gabriel Heinze. We've had several offers and rejected them all."

The previously cordial relationship between Manchester United and Liverpool soured over the Heinze case.

"For a month, Gabi did nothing until the decision went Manchester United's way, and the next thing we knew, Gabi moved to Real Madrid," Evra recounted.

"Although he was unhappy with Ferguson at the time following the thwarted transfer attempt, Gabi wasn't content being sidelined. I think he expected to be first choice when he returned from injury, but I'd made a name for myself at left-back. It was difficult for Gabi. He'd been player of the year before I arrived, but that's football."

And the record stands.

In April this year, I was traveling through Manchester Airport and spotted a group of Liverpool youth players, around 14 years old. One coach called out to me: Michael Thomas, a former Liverpool midfielder and an Arsenal legend. He explained he was taking the team to continental Europe to compete in a tournament.

We exchanged greetings and I asked about his players, their skill level, and where they came from. "Many are from Manchester," Thomas answered with a smile.

This, combined with Conder's move last week, points to increased movement at academy level. But for now, Chisnall remains the last senior player to transfer between Manchester United and Liverpool, making it one of the rarest transfer routes in football.

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