Former England right-back Glen Johnson has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur wanted to sign him from Portsmouth before he ended up completing a move to Liverpool.
Johnson came through West Ham’s youth ranks before becoming Chelsea’s first signing of the Roman Abramovich era in the summer of 2003 (GiveMeSport).
However, he struggled to get a run of starts under his belt during his time at Stamford Bridge and it was under Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth that his career really took off.
Johnston became one of the most highly-rated right-backs in the Premier League at Fratton Park and very much belonged to a new breed of full-backs, primarily famed for their ability to get forward and create chances.
He eventually ended up joining Liverpool in the summer of 2009 and enjoyed six impressive years at Anfield, even establishing himself as England’s number one choice at right-back during that time.
The former Reds star has now revealed that several clubs, including Spurs, tried to sign him from Pompey but he insisted he was pleased with his decision to head to Liverpool.
Johnson told Ladbrokes ahead of the Cheltenham Festival: “I had a couple of options open to me when I left Portsmouth – and a return to Chelsea or even a move up to Manchester City we’re both massively on the cards before I settled on Liverpool.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“I had Roman [Abramovich] and his team over at my house and they were trying to get me to return to the club, and I was super close to doing so.
“It was actually Tottenham Hotspur who were first to the table, but that offer came halfway through the season.
“That one fizzled out as the campaign went on, then I’d say Chelsea were the next ones who expressed serious interest in me, then Man City came in and, obviously, Liverpool also came along.
“It’s a tough decision when you’ve got three world-class teams trying to sign you; don’t get me wrong it’s a nice problem to have, but I feel like I made the right choice in the end.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I remember being desperate for us to sign Johnson from Pompey at the time and I thought we had a great chance of doing so, given that we had Harry at the helm. However, we had both Corluka and Hutton in the squad at the time, which is perhaps why we did not push the boat out for the England man.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
