I was 'tapped up' by Liverpool during a game and asked to reveal who my agent was

Jermaine Pennant claims Steven Gerrard tried to tap him up during a match a few months before he joined Liverpool. The ex-Reds winger was playing for Birmingham City at the time, having joined the Midlands club from Arsenal a year before.

Pennant, now 41, was one of English football's hottest prospects in the late 90s and early 00s, particularly after becoming the most expensive 15-year-old of all time when the Gunners bought him from Notts County for £2million in 1999. But after failing to make the grade at Highbury and several underwhelming loan spells, Pennant's career was in the doldrums by the mid-2000s.

His form picked up at Birmingham during the 2005/06 season, prompting covetous glances from the red half of Merseyside. And when Gerrard ran over mid-match to ask Pennant who his agent was, he knew the interest was genuine.

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"He [Gerrard] knew I was a good player," Pennant said on talkSPORT. "Because he half tapped me up in one game. I was playing against Liverpool and he came running over to me during the game, saying, 'Who's your agent?' I said it was Sky Andrew and that was the last thing he said - I was bamboozled.

"So I ran over to him and said, 'Do you know him?' At this time, the game is going on. The ball's gone out of play. He just went to me 'Who's your agent?' And I was with Sky Andrew at the time. And he said 'Okay, lad' - and then ran off. My brain was frazzled. I'm thinking, 'Why's Steven Gerrard asking me this?'"

Birmingham were in a relegation battle at the time, but that didn't stop Pennant from throwing positional organisation to the wind to ask Gerrard, now 44, a follow-up question. "[Birmingham boss] Steve Bruce is probably looking thinking, 'Where's Jermaine going? Why is he peeling off to the left - he plays on the right!' But I've gone off to speak to Steven Gerrard!

"So I said to him, 'Why, do you know him?' He's gone, 'Nah, nah, nah'. Then I've said, 'Do you want his number?' So after the game, I phoned my agent and I said, 'Steven Gerrard wants your number. Do you know him? Get his number! Call him!'"

A few weeks later, Birmingham's relegation from the Premier League was confirmed, which, in hindsight, was highly-convenient for Pennant. In the summer, Liverpool lodged an official bid for the player, and snapped him up for £6.7m.

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He ended up spending three seasons at Anfield and racked up 81 appearances for the club. He won the Community Shield in 2006, and was part of the Liverpool side that finished runner-up in the Champions League in 2006/07.

He gradually fell out of the first team pictured following attacking arrivals such as Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel and Albert Riera, and spent the final of his three Liverpool seasons on loan at Portsmouth. He was then sold to Real Sociedad in 2009.