Liverpool won £17.5million transfer battle after Xabi Alonso phone call tipped the scales

A phone call from Xabi Alonso helped persuade Glen Johnson to snub Manchester City and Chelsea and join Liverpool. In 2009, the Reds harboured high hopes that Johnson would be the final piece needed to reignite their Premier League title aspirations.

After going agonisingly close the previous season, trailing Manchester United by four points after just two losses, they were on the hunt for an edge to convert draws into victories. With a keen eye on an attacking right-back, Rafa Benitez targeted the England ace, then of Portsmouth.

And after fending off interest from Chelsea and Manchester City, Liverpool secured Johnson's signature. Even Xabi Alonso's return to Spain that summer was not enough to deter Johnson, especially after Steven Gerrard's persuasive powers came into play during a stint together with England. The departing Alonso also did his bit.

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Reflecting years later in 2021, Johnson told the Liverpool Echo: "If a club like Liverpool comes knocking, you obviously immediately have an eye on it and an interest.

"But what swung it was we played for England that summer, just before I signed, and I had a good chat with Stevie. And then I spoke to [Fernando] Torres and Alonso as well before signing. I just thought these were some of the best players in the world.

"They don't need to phone me but they were phoning me to let me know how much they wanted me to join. Straight away, I felt like I knew them and it made me feel super welcome before I signed and everything just felt right."

The fact that Liverpool were only able to spend £17.5m to sign Johnson from Portsmouth by cancelling out £7m the financially-stricken outfit owed to them for Peter Crouch was a sign that a period of instability lay ahead, with multiple managerial changes and new ownership.

Johnson said: "There were a lot of issues with owners. Rafa lost his job and we sold three of our best players and didn't replace any of them. You just can't do that, it's as simple as that.

"The owners didn't want to replace the players who went out the door with the same quality of players. It was a tough couple of years.

"We had three or four managers in a very short period of time. That is a setback at any club. With all the issues going on in the background, the best players leaving, the managers leaving, it's hard to string some sort of foundation together."

The arrival of FSG in October 2010 brought a much-needed sense of stability. The following season, Johnson would lift the only trophy of his Reds career, the League Cup.

Despite that triumph, Kenny Dalglish left the manager's position, with Brendan Rodgers replacing him at the helm. Under Rodgers' guidance, Liverpool went tantalisingly close to clinching the Premier League title.

A slip from Gerrard against Chelsea and a notorious comeback by Crystal Palace saw Liverpool's title hopes dashed in the final stages of the season, allowing Man City to take the title. However, Johnson insists that those two matches were not the decisive factors in Liverpool missing out on the title.

"Second half of the season, we were unbelievable," he said. "We weren't great at the start of the season at all but we started to play football that just blew teams away.

"We won nearly all of our games and the games that we won, we won nearly all of them in the first 20 minutes. We were playing some great football and were unlucky we didn't get over the line."

Reflecting on his six years with the Reds, Johnson, who left Anfield for Stoke in 2015 and retired three years later, said: "Our starting XI was great. It was a good side with great players. Fernando Torres, even now, doesn't get spoken about as much as he should.

"Fernando was unbelievable, literally unbelievable, but obviously Luis Suarez was as well. They're two slightly different players, I don't think I can pick [between them].

"Stevie was good in training. Fernando wasn't good in training at all, but you don't mind that because he'd come to life at the weekend so you'd accept that all day long. Luis was a good trainer but Stevie would always be the one leading by example most days.

"I'm happy with my time there and I loved every single minute of it. It felt like I had some of my best years there. I played an awful lot of games, which I feel super proud about. It's just a shame we couldn't win more."

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