Jermaine Pennant has disclosed that he once snubbed a transfer to Everton as he didn’t want to ruin his chances of securing a move to his dream club, Liverpool. His loyalty paid off when the Reds snapped him up from Birmingham City in 2006.
During his three-year stint at Anfield, Pennant racked up 81 appearances, netted three goals, and provided 17 assists. However, his time at Liverpool came to an end when he fell out of favor with manager Rafa Benitez, leading to his departure on a free transfer in 2009.
Before his Liverpool days, Pennant had the chance to join David Moyes’ Everton after finding limited opportunities at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.
Having joined the Gunners at the age of 15 for a record fee in January 1999, Pennant’s Arsenal career was modest, with only 26 appearances over six years, during which he was loaned out to Watford, Leeds United, and Birmingham City.
Birmingham made his move permanent in April 2005 following an impressive spell, despite Everton also bidding for him.
Pennant revealed on the Undr The Cosh podcast that he turned down Everton after his agent highlighted how it could affect his chances of playing for Liverpool, his childhood team.
“Well, I didn’t say (to Arsenal that I needed to leave), my agent did. And Everton came in, I think the following season,” Pennant recalled. “I think Everton came in.
“David Moyes put in a bid. I’m not sure if Arsenal accepted it. I think that it might have. But then my agent said to me… because I’ve always been a Liverpool fan since I was a little kid.
Learn more
“So he said, ‘Look, if you play for Everton, you’re never going to play for Liverpool, you know that, right?’ I was like, ‘oh, but, you know, this is first-team football now. This is guaranteed first-team football’.
“And then I said, ‘all right, I don’t want to accept the deal’. And I turned it down. It was a very brave move because I was in a bad place, I wanted to play. At that time, Everton wasn’t a s— club. Back then, it wasn’t a team that would be fighting relegation.
“You know you’re going to be safe and if you do well, you can kick on then. But something in me just said, ‘it’s going to be good now but in the long run…’ And I said to my agent, ‘no, I don’t want to do it’.
“My dream was I want to play for Liverpool and I want to play in the Champions League. That was a dream.”
