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Xabi Alonso phonecall helped Liverpool beat Manchester City and Chelsea to £17.5m transfer



Via echo


When Liverpool signed Glen Johnson, it was in hope that he could be a missing piece of the puzzle.


The Reds had fallen narrowly short in the Premier League title race the year before, finishing four points behind champions Manchester United






Rafa Benitez sought to bring in an attacking full-back to bolster his side and settled on the England international


Liverpool had fought off rival interest from Chelsea and Manchester City to sign Johnson


However, in a summer that would also see Xabi Alonso depart the club and the turmoil brought from hapless owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s fractured partnership only worsening


The Spanish midfielder’s desire to return to Spain that summer didn’t prevent him from playing a key role in bringing Johnson to Anfield.



Johnson explained


“If a club like Liverpool comes knocking, you obviously immediately have an eye on it and an interest,”


“But what swung it was we played for England that summer, just before I signed, and I had a good chat with Stevie (Gerrard).


“And then I spoke to Torres and Alonso as well before signing. I just thought these were some of the best players in the world.


“They don’t need to phone me but they were phoning me to let me know how much they wanted me to join. Straight away,


“I felt like I knew them and it made me feel super welcome before I signed and everything just felt right.”


in hindsight the fact that Liverpool were only able to spend £17.5m to sign the defender from Portsmouth by cancelling out £7m the financially-stricken outfit owed to them for Peter Crouch was an early sign of their dwindling fortunes


With a number of key players also sold without being replaced, it’s fair to say the full-back did not enjoy the easiest start to life at Liverpool.



Johnson recalled


“There were a lot of issues with owners, Rafa lost his job and we sold three of our best players and didn’t replace any of them,”


“You just can’t do that, it’s as simple as that.”


“The owners didn’t want to replace the players who went out the door with the same quality of players. It was a tough couple of years.


“We had three or four managers in a very short period of time.


“That is a setback at any club. With all the issues going on in the background, the best players leaving, the managers leaving, it’s hard to string some sort of foundation together”


While it was admittedly an unsettling time to be a Liverpool player, FSG’s takeover of the club in October 2010 did at least steady the ship


while Johnson would win the only trophy of his Reds career the following season courtesy of the League Cup.




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