Lee Bowyer has said that his decision to pull out of a transfer to Liverpool in the middle of his medical is the ‘biggest regret’ of his footballing career.
The former England midfielder was speaking on Sky Sports‘ MNF Retro when he confessed that it was a ‘mistake’ to pull the plug on a move to Anfield from Leeds United in 2002.
The now 47-year-old said: “I was very close [to joining Liverpool] – I was halfway through a medical but it just didn’t feel right for me at the time. That is my biggest regret in football, not going to Liverpool at that time. If I could’ve turned the clock back I would’ve gone. Looking back, I made the wrong decision.
“I knew my time was coming to an end at Leeds due to a few things behind the scenes that didn’t sit well with me, so I knew it was my time to go.
“I thought doing another five years up north being a long way away from my family after doing six years at Leeds didn’t sit right, but after all that I ended up going to Newcastle which is even further away, so it makes no sense! At the time [Liverpool] just didn’t feel right, and that was the mistake I made.”
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While Bowyer was a talented player who was capped by England and played in a Champions League semi-final, history suggests that Liverpool might’ve dodged a bullet by not ultimately signing him.
The former Leeds midfielder experienced some chequered episodes during his career, being charged of causing grievous bodily harm near a nightclub in 2000 (he was subsequently cleared of those charges) and being transfer-listed by the Whites after he objected to paying a club fine in the wake of his acquittal.
During his time at Newcastle in 2005, he was involved in an on-pitch fracas with teammate Kieron Dyer during a defeat to Aston Villa, while the late Gerard Houllier was unconvinced that the player ‘had either the hunger or desire’ to play for his Liverpool side at the time of the failed move to Anfield.
Seemingly it just wasn’t meant to be for Bowyer and the Reds, and within two years LFC had a future Champions League-winning midfield containing Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, so the club’s powerbrokers of the time won’t have harboured any regrets over the 47-year-old opting out of the move during his medical.