Burton Albion's Stephen Warnock has revealed how his exit from Liverpool came about back in 2007.
The defender left the Reds for Blackburn Rovers in a career that took in spells at Aston Villa, Leeds United, Derby County and Wigan Athletic before he joined the Brewers last summer.
Warnock came through the ranks at his boyhood club, but fell out of favour with Rafa Benitez before eventually departing for Ewood Park in the January of 2007.
And he revealed to the Anfield Wrap podcast how he eventually got his move to Mark Hughes' then-Premier League Rovers.
"This wasn't straightforward," Warnock explained.
"I got a phone call in July off my agent and he said: 'Blackburn are interested and want to sign you, would you be interested?' And I was like 'yeah, 100 per cent'.
"Everything was agreed, Liverpool had agreed to sell me and I'd agreed to go to Blackburn.
"On my way down I get a phone call from my agent, and he says 'the deal is off'.
"So I asked why, and he said 'Rafa doesn't want you to go'. So I was like 'right, okay.'
"He said he's made a mistake and he wants you to come back. So I thought right, fair enough.
"I wasn't happy, because at the time in my head I wanted to go because after the Champions League, I'd been in the squad and not being in the squad and not making the final and all that.
"I thought 'I've had enough, and I want out.'
"I came in the next day and I'm sat there in the physio room and Rafa walks in.
"(He said), 'what are you doing here, why are you still here?'
"I said 'what do you mean?'
"He said, 'I thought you were going to Blackburn.'
"I said I'd got a phone call last night saying 'the deal's off, Rafa wants you to stay.'
"So he said 'no, not me'.
"It turned out it was Rick Parry (Liverpool's chief executive at the time) who wanted me to stay, because Rick had backed me from being a youngster, giving me a contract when I broke my leg and all the stuff like that.
"My head had gone. I'm thinking this isn't right.
"I pretty much just thought 'I want to go to Blackburn in January', so I said to my agent: 'you make that happen at any cost'.
"I was in the car on the way, and I think my agent had spoken to him to say 'listen, this is what's happened and whatever, and he (Blackburn manager Mark Hughes) said: 'I still want him in January'.
"Which was brilliant to hear from my point of view. I remember when I went in, Hughes basically said: 'I was desperate to get you in July.'
"And I just felt 10 feet tall. The guy wanted me and I was made up when I got there."
