Jermaine Pennant has revealed that he could have entered Real Madrid with the Spanish giants after he was frozen by Rafa Benitez in Liverpool.
The English winger, now 42, enjoyed a successful Premier League career before he finally hung up his boots at the beginning of 2018.
He caught the attention of football fans at a young age, with a 15-year-old pennant signed for a then record costs for a trainee when Arsenal £ 2 million outed to take him from Notts County.
He started making 26 performances for the Gunners before he really made a name for himself in Birmingham City, and joined the blues after a successful loan in 2005.
It was only a year later when MerseSide Giants Liverpool came to call, where Pennant made the move to the North in a deal with a value of a maximum of £ 8 million.
And the reimbursement paid by manager Rafa Benitez seemed justified, with the flying wing player confirming in Liverpool's first eleven and played a crucial role in their run to the Champions League final of 2007, in which he played a full 90 minutes.
But after two seasons in Anfield, Pennant was frozen and 'training on Saturday afternoon' left after a fall -out with manager Rafa Benitez.
He only played three times in the first months of the season and was free to leave in January – when Real Madrid Chiefs called his agent's phone.
Shocking, Pennant joined a short list of players to reject Los Blancos and instead choose a move to Portsmouth – a decision that he is sorry about.
“This is a madman and many people can't believe this, but Real Madrid wanted me,” he told Adventure Gamers.
'It was my last year in Liverpool, I was not going to sign a new contract and it was not really training between Rafa Benitez and me.
'Madrid came in to need the right wing player for their team depth, so we had that conversation and it was exciting, but then I wondered if I wanted to go there and want to sit on the couch for three years or do I want to go somewhere to become a first team starter and restart my career?
“It was exciting, but I was not enthusiastic then. Would I go back and change my decision? I wish I could do it. '
Pennant's agent Sky Andrew also spoke about the decision to drop Madrid during a recent appearance on Talksport.
“Pennant was just one of those people, his dream was to go to Liverpool, and when he confused it, there was nothing else to go,” he said.
“So I called him and said,” Jermaine, Liverpool agreed a fee for you to go Real Madrid. '
'The story I received from the club is that they were just looking for someone to sit on the couch as a backup. The more I said it to Jermaine, the more he said, “No, I'm not on the couch.”
“He is a nightmare if he doesn't play. In the end they signed someone from West Ham (Julian Flaubert), who did not play a match in the second half of the season.
“If Jermaine had gone there and had not been played, it would have been a disaster.”
Instead, Pennant joined Peter Crouch in Portsmouth in Portsmouth that winter transfer window, and made 13 performances for Pompy in the second half of the 2008/09 season.
He later made a Spanish switch to Real Zaragoza, before setting himself in Stoke City over a period of three years, and appeared 89 times before the club.
After Stints at Wolves, Pune City, Wigan Athletic, Tampines Rovers, Bury and Billerary Town, Pennant mentioned time during his gaming career in 2018.