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I was a Liverpool player and even held the scarf - it was so disappointing when deal collapsed

Loic Remy of Queens Park Rangers celebrates scoring
-Credit: (Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images)


Liverpool once pulled the plug on a bid to sign Loic Remy from Queens Park Rangers at the last second. The striker has now revealed the behind-the-scenes details of what went on, from how he considered himself a Reds player to eventually signing for rivals Chelsea instead.

Four of Remy's 17-year career in football were spent in the Premier League, though that picture would have looked entirely different had Liverpool's gone another way. At the time the ECHO reported an £8.5m to bring the French goalscorer to Anfield was ditched at the 11th hour, supposedly to do with his medical.

It was known the player had travelled to Boston, Massachusetts, where in summer 2014 the Reds were undertaking pre-season preparations. Months later he commented he never truly understood the reasoning, though until now has never shared such intense detail about the process.

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Remy was speaking at the launch of Ladbrokes' "Gaffer of all Accas", as he explained: "Signing for Chelsea was the craziest move of my career, for sure.

"I can remember being on holiday, back in my home country, on a small island, and my agent gave me a call to tell me that Liverpool wanted to sign me. They were training in Boston for pre-season. That was fantastic news for me, so I asked him about the next steps.

"My agent told me what I needed to do and where I needed to go, but at the time, I didn't have my passport on me, so I couldn't make it to Boston. At the time, my agent was the same as Patrice Evra's - so Patrice's brother went to Lyon, my hometown, to get my passport, I then travelled all the way to Paris, and met Patrice's brother there, he gave me the passport and I flew straight to Boston."

That first hurdle was cleared and all was going well. The next steps began to find Brendan Rodgers his Luis Suarez replacement.

He continued: "We arrived, me and my agent, and it all felt like a dream - it was happening so quickly. I met all the guys, started doing my interviews, and had a medical, but something was wrong.

"I didn't know what was wrong, but they said I just needed to wait for a couple of days. At this moment, I was a Liverpool player as far as I was concerned, because I'd done the interviews, and I still have a picture of myself on my phone, holding their scarf!

"It was a very proud moment for me, but two days later I found out that there was a problem with my medical, and the deal was off - they didn't want to take the risk, and while I was so disappointed, I accepted it and went back to London, ready to start training with QPR again."

At that point Remy received the call from Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, wanting him to sign there instead. He ended up making the jump across London in a reported £10.5m transfer.

Revealing further details, the 37-year-old says Arsenal made a late attempt as he was on his way to Stamford Bridge to sign, on the phone saying: "Tell him not to sign - we want him!"

However Remy was set on the team that came first, and he says he does not feel that decision was a mistake in hindsight - he was just happy to get such a complicated deal finalised.

Adding 12 more Chelsea Premier League goals to the combined 20 he scored previously with QPR and Newcastle United, the striker also lifted the English league title and League Cup over his three years at the club he signed for instead of Liverpool.

As mentioned, the Reds lost talisman Suarez that same summer and were left with Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli as their only striker recruits. Just the seven goals between those two in 64 combined appearances concludes that story...