Carragher tweeted afterwards that he had accompanied a team from the Commonwealth Games Delivery Unit (CGDU) and Commonwealth Games England (CGE) on a tour of the famous stadium where he used to play for Premier League Liverpool.

"Delighted to show the judges around Anfield," the former England player, a member of the Liverpool team that won the Champions League in 2005, wrote. 

"No doubt the city will produce a fantastic games!"

Anfield would host the rugby sevens if Liverpool are chosen to replace Durban as the host city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Officials from the CGDU, established by the Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport, and CGE were shown several other venues proposed by Liverpool 2022, including Liverpool Tennis Centre.

They were also shown plans for 50 metre pool structure, with seating for 5,000 spectators to be built on the water near Albert Dock to host swimming.

The CGDU, formed in May to oversee bids from British cities wanting to replace Durban, were also shown plans for Bramley-Moore Dock, the proposed site for Premier League Everton’s new stadium and where a temporary athletics track would be laid during the Games.

They will have sought re-assurances that it is possible to install and remove a 400m running track at Bramley-Moore Dock in less than three-and-a-half months.

Liverpool 2022 are claiming they can build the track at the end of the 2021-2022 football season and take it out by the start of the following 2022-2023 season. 

It took Hampden Park more than a year to conduct the same operation for Glasgow 2014. 

The party from the CGDU and CGE did not visit Manchester, which will provide the venues for cycling and cricket.

Liverpool 2022 were banned from doing any public relations around the visit.

The CGDU and CGE are due to visit Birmingham, Liverpool's rivals for the English nomination, next week.

It is expected that they will make a decision next month about which city to recommend. 

Besides Birmingham and Liverpool, Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, host of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, is among the locations to have expressed firm interest in stepping in to replace Durban, stripped of the event in March after failing to meet a series of financial deadlines.

Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia have also revealed they may be interested, while Victoria in Canada announced earlier last month that it will bid.

The Commonwealth Games Federation are due to choose a host city in autumn.