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Liverpool Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Joey Barton and Phil Jones
- Updated: September 20, 2016
Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has revealed he verbally agreed a move to Liverpool in 2004 and was ready to play for the Anfield giants under former manager Gerard Houllier after being recommended by club legend Steven Gerrard.
Barton explained the deal in his autobiography No Nonsense (h/t Joe Rimmer of the Liverpool Echo) and said Gerrard was central to the potential transfer to his native Merseyside. The controversial player agreed terms with Houllier, but the Frenchman was sacked, leading to the collapse of the move.
According to Rimmer, Barton wrote in his book:
Had things panned out differently, I could have made the obsessive debate about the mutual suitability of the Gerrard-Lampard axis redundant. From what I gathered, Steven Gerrard agitated to get Liverpool to sign me in 2004, because he felt we had the potential to forge a partnership.
I met with Gerard Houllier at Melwood, and agreed everything verbally.
A deal was close to being concluded but then he was …
