I could have signed for European giants but Rafa Benitez killed the transfer
For all that Rafa Benitez has an outstanding CV in football, the more you hear from the players who have worked under him – the more it becomes clear he was hard to play for.
Speaking on ‘The Football Historian Podcast‘, Adam Hammill spoke about his time as a Liverpool player in the summer of 2007: “I felt that it was more beneficial for myself to to be playing 30/40 games a season [on loan] rather than a handful a season [at Liverpool].
“I thought that, that was putting me in better stead for things to come.
“Funny enough when I was at Dunfermline and I went back to Liverpool, I did go straight back on loan, but it wasn’t before Celtic tried to sign me.
“So they offered money, a million or two, and they obviously tried to get me a there on the back of the the loan deal I had there.
“And then Rafa was like, ‘no’.
“But then rather than talk to me, he just sent me straight out.
“And you know, I always think to myself, ‘if I would have went and signed there, would it have have been different? What would have went on in my career?’
“But you know, it’s in the past and obviously I did go on to have a great career for myself.”
It seems clear that the then 19-year-old was open to a move to Celtic but was never given the chance to entertain the offer, before being sent straight out on loan to Southampton.
Rafa Benitez has a mixed reputation among former Liverpool players
We’ve heard from other ex-Reds like David Raven that the Spaniard was quite cold with them during training sessions at Melwood.
At this stage, the Scouser was a teenager who has scored once during 11 games in the SPL and the offer of £1 million could have been a good deal.
It was actually this fee (according to transfermarkt.co.uk) that we ended up selling the winger for in 2009 as he went to Barnsley.
Going on to be a club legend and scoring one of the great Wembley goals, the now 37-year-old who is still playing for Maghull – certainly went on to have a great career.
But the chance to play Champions League football for the Scottish giants does seems to be an opportunity that would have been a good deal for all parties – yet our former boss didn’t want it to happen.
You can watch Hammill’s comments on Benitez (from 20:13) via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube:
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The post I could have signed for European giants but Rafa Benitez killed the transfer appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.