Jermaine Pennant has revealed he was once sounded out over a Liverpool transfer by Steven Gerrard – right in the middle of a Premier League match.
The talkSPORT pundit and former Reds winger played for the Merseyside club between 2006 and 2009, having signed from Birmingham City.
Pennant had spent a season with the struggling Blues, who ended up in an unsuccessful battle for Premier League survival in the 2005/06 season.
But Birmingham had met Liverpool – Gerrard‘s home until 2015 – three times that season.
They faced off twice in the Premier League and once in the sixth-round of the FA Cup.
The Reds trounced them in the latter, putting seven past them in a game to forget.
But both top-flight games ended in a draw with Liverpool – then managed by Rafael Benitez – unable to get the win over Steve Bruce‘s side.
And on one of these occasions, a young Pennant caught the eye of one very special Liverpool player in particular.
In fact, it was a moment which led to a hilarious encounter between the two future teammates in the middle of a game.
“(Steven Gerrard) knew I was a good player,” Pennant told talkSPORT. “Because he half tapped me up in one game.
“I was playing against Liverpool and he came running over to me during the game, saying ‘who’s your agent?’
“I said it was Sky Andrew and that was the last thing he said, and I was bamboozled. So I ran over to him and said ‘do you know him?’
4
“At this time the game is going on,” said Pennant, sending the studio into fits of laughter as he explained how all this happened during a crucial match for relegation-contenders Birmingham City.
“The ball’s gone out of play. He just went to me ‘who’s your agent?’ And I was with Sky Andrew at the time. And he said ‘okay, lad’ – and then ran off.
“My brain’s frazzled. I’m thinking ‘why’s Steven Gerrard asking me this?’
“Steve Bruce is probably looking thinking ‘Where’s Jermaine going? Why is he peeling off to the left – he plays on the right!’ But I’ve gone off to speak to Steven Gerrard!
“So I said to him, ‘why, do you know him?’ He’s gone nah, nah, nah. Then I’ve said ‘do you want his number?’”
Pennant then collapsed into fits of laughter as he recalled his cheeky mid-game antics which did indeed ultimately culminate in the transfer of a lifetime for him.
“So then after the game,” he went on. “I phoned my agent and I said, ‘Steven Gerrard wants your number. Do you know him? Get his number! Call him!'”
Months after Birmingham’s relegation was confirmed, Pennant signed for Liverpool on a four-year contract for an estimated £6.7million transfer fee.
He would spent three years at the club, although he was loaned out to Portsmouth for the final year of his contract.
In that time, he would win the 2006 Community Shield and fall just short in the Champions League, losing out 2-1 to AC Milan in the final.
But looking back on the fateful day of his transfer to Liverpool, Pennant explained that things had happened very speedily indeed.
4
4
“It was one training session and one of the coaches came running over,” he remembered. “And he says ‘you better go to the changing room and call your agent’.
“Straight away, I went oh my god. I’ve done a strong walk because I’m thinking, right. What have you done in the last few months? And I couldn’t remember what it was! So then I got into the change room and I phoned him.
“And he said ‘where are you?’ I said, ‘I’m in the changing room’. He went ‘sit down’. And that’s made it worse.
“So I sat down and he went ‘All right, get changed. Get ready as quickly as quick as you can and make your way to Liverpool.’
“And I was like, why?
“(He said) they’ve agreed a deal! I didn’t even know they were going to meet. He just said they’d agreed a deal for me to sign, so get down.
“I didn’t even have a shower. I just put on my clothes and I was gone. As I got ready, I came running out and I was like, ‘boys, see you later! All the best for this season.’
“They’ve just been relegated as well to the Championship! I gave Steve Bruce a hug. And he was like, ‘where are you going?’ I said, ‘a medical with Liverpool’. He was raging!”
