Police on Merseyside are appealing for witnesses after yet another burglarly involving a player from Liverpool FC. In recent months as many as seven players have had their houses ransacked as they were playing a match, usually a midweek European fixture, with valuable items such as football shirts, medals, cars and limited edition Phil Collins albums taken.

Carragher realises too late his house is gone

In what appears to be an escalation in matters though defender Jamie Carragher called police after coming home and finding his entire house had been taken, with his wife and children still inside.

A police spokesman said “To say this is taking it to the next level would be to underestimate matters. It’s one thing taking a Zidane shirt or replica of a league title winners medal but to literally take the house up out of its foundations is entirely another. We suspect they loaded it onto the back of a flat-bed truck and took off with it.

We would urge anybody who has seen anything suspicious to get in touch with us. For example, if you look out the window of your council house in Toxteth and see a mock Tudor mansion that wasn’t there before then please give us a call”.

A friend of Carragher, said to be distraught at the loss of his Playstation3 which had his Metal Gear Solid 4 save game on it, told us “He’s offering a big reward to get his stuff, and less importantly his family, back. He can accept the loss of his wife, they come ten a penny, but he was nearly at the end of MGS4 and he’d built up his stats massively on the ‘Be a pro’ mode in FIFA 09. What kind of a heartless bastard would take that away from a man?”

The robberies, believed to be carried out by a gang headed by former Everton star Danny Cadamarteri, have plagued Liverpool players for the last two years. Within months of joining the club goalkeeper Pepe Reina had his house broken into with a priceless Joan Miro portrait taken, it was later found hanging on the wall of the Birkenhead Working Men’s club.

And Irishman Robbie Keane had mementos with great sentimental value stolen from his home, including the mallet used to bash his head square when he was a young footballer playing on the streets of Tallaght.