Former Tottenham centre-back Steven Caulker has revealed that Liverpool tried to sign him from Spurs in the summer of 2012 but the North London club turned down the Reds’ offer.
Caulker was thought of very highly while coming through the ranks of the Spurs academy and was expected to go on to bigger things after enjoying his breakthrough year for the North Londoners during the 2012-13 season under Andre Villas-Boas.
The centre-back subsequently won his first England cap and looked set to have a long career at the top level.
However, the defender was sold to Cardiff City in 2013 after reportedly falling out with Daniel Levy (Guardian) and moved to QPR in the subsequent summer after the Bluebirds were relegated to the Championship.
Caulker has been a bit of a journeyman since, playing for a number of EFL clubs while also recently spending a few years in the Scottish and Turkish top flight.
The 31-year-old, who now plies his trade at Wigan Athletic, revealed that Brendan Rodgers wanted to sign him even before he became a regular in the Tottenham first-team.
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He said on the Under the Cost Podcast: “(Rodgers) came for me at Liverpool. After he left Swansea, he went there (to Liverpool).
“He tried to get me to come from Tottenham, and Tottenham said no. That was for around £20 million, the same year they got Joe Allen.”
When asked about ending up at Cardiff just 12 months later, the centre-back responded: “That tells you something about my behaviour that year.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Caulker seemed to possess all the raw materials to evolve into a top-class centre-back.
He was strong in areal and ground duels, was good on the ball and had a decent recovery pace.
Had he not forced himself out of Tottenham in the summer of 2013, he could quite easily have gone on to have a long career in the Premier League.
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