“I think he just used us to get more money out of Chelsea.”
Jamie Carragher said on Monday Night Football earlier this week that he looked forward to playing alongside John Terry for England. However, Carragher could have been a teammate of the former Chelsea captain at club level if this move had have come to fruition.
According to Alex Miller, a former scout and coach for Liverpool, Terry was one of several players the club were interested in signing during his time at Anfield. In the early 2000s, they also looked at transfers for Diego Forlan, Gerard Pique and Petr Cech, but either opted against the deals or were thwarted in their pursuit.
In 2003, when Gerard Houilier was Liverpool manager, Miller said they were keen on signing Terry, but obviously, nothing came of it.
“I tried to get John Terry to come. It was 2003 when Chelsea beat Liverpool for the last place in the Champions League,” the former scout, who worked at Liverpool for nine years before leaving in 2008, told Glenn Price on ESPN.
“It went to the final day and they beat us at Stamford Bridge. After the game I went to speak to John Terry to try and get him. How I did it was, I went up to him in the corridor and asked him for his autograph. He said, ‘yes’. As he was signing it I said ‘Could you put your mobile phone number? Gerard Houllier would like to talk to you.’ He put his agent’s number and said to talk to him. Gerard Houllier spoke to his agent on the bus. I think he just used us to get more money out of Chelsea.”
Miller also monitored another Premier League legend who ended up at Chelsea, when he went to scout Cech.
“I also had Petr Cech, but at that moment in time we were trying to sign Chris Kirkland. I went to a game to watch Milan Baros and Petr Cech was making his debut. I then went to Argentina, I think it was in 2001, the Under-20 World Cup. You could have got him for a song. He was with Chmel Blsany and then he moved to Sparta Prague and then he moved to France [to Rennes].”
He says the club tried to sign Pique from Barcelona, but the player had already agreed to join Manchester United. He recommended that Liverpool sign Ronaldo when he was still at Sporting Lisbon, and claims he advised the club not to sign Forlan before he joined United in 2002.
“I turned him down before United even got to him. At the final hour when United were going to sign him, Gerard Houllier asked me whether I was sure. I was positive he would be more suited to Spain or Italy.”
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