Former Chelsea star Mario Melchiot has revealed how close he came to joining Liverpool, before eventually joining the Blues in 1999. It has been 18 years since the transfer scramble happened and the defender has finally opened about the whole saga that happened back in ’99.
Melchiot joined Chelsea and went on to make 164 appearances in 5 seasons. The Dutchman then joined Birmingham City in 2004, before eventually playing for Rennes and Wigan Athletic. He was given the captain’s armband at Wigan and was a fan favourite there.
With Chelsea, he won the FA Cup in 2000 and reached the finals of the competition once again in 2002 and lost to Arsenal. He was also a part of the Chelsea team that finished 2nd in the league table in 2003/04 season, the season in which Arsenal’s Invincibles won the title at White Hart Lane.
The Dutchman revealed that before he joined Chelsea, Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier flew to Holland to hold talks with the then 22-year-old to try and lure him away from Ajax. West Ham wanted him too while Manchester United were also linked with a swoop.
Melchiot revealed while talking to Sky Sports’ Fantasy Football Club (h/t Express),
“I had a lot of offers. I had Liverpool. Houllier flew to Amsterdam and sat down and held talks with my agent. Harry Redknapp, too. At that time he was at West Ham. He had a young side that he was bringing through. There were rumours about Manchester United – but then Chelsea came in and I was like ‘yes’.”
“It was the second time they came in. They came in two years ago when Ruud Gullit was there but then Gianluca Vialli came in. He rang me through my agent and I got on the phone to him. I was 21, hearing a big coach talking about myself and I was like ‘okay, this guy knows exactly who I am and he really wants me’. Then I was set – I said I was going to Chelsea.”
It is hard to imagine how it would have been had Melchiot joined Liverpool but maybe he is one of those players who got away and no regrets about it.
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