Jermaine Pennant reveals he almost JOINED Real Madrid from Liverpool in 2009… only to have ‘upset’ Los Blancos boss Juande Ramos pull the plug as he joined Portsmouth on loan
- Jermaine Pennant reveals he was close to signing for Real Madrid in 2009
- The former Liverpool winger came close to signing a pre-contract with the Spanish giants
- Then-manager Juande Ramos blocked the move and Pennant joined Portsmouth
Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant has revealed he came close to signing for Real Madrid but the move was blocked by manager Juande Ramos.
Pennant was in the final year of his contract with Liverpool and was close to agreeing a pre-contract with the Spanish giants in January 2009.
However, the deal angered then-manager Juande Ramos and the former Spurs boss ended Pennant’s dream move.
Instead, he ended up moving to Portsmouth on a six-month loan before his contract at Anfield expired.
speaking on talkSPORT, Pennant detailed the move and revealed how close he was to a move to the Bernabeu.
Jermaine Pennant revealed he nearly joined Real Madrid in talkSPORT interview
Pennant was in talks to sign a pre-contract with Madrid in his final year at Liverpool
The move was blocked by then-Madrid manager Juande Ramos, who blocked the transfer.
“I was going to sign a pre-contract with Real Madrid in January,” admitted Pennant.
“I think the manager at the time was former Spurs manager Juande Ramos.
My agent got the call saying that Real Madrid needed a right midfielder, and straight away I said ‘what?’, ‘really?
I was like ‘I’m free, I’m going to do this’, even though it meant I had to sit on the bench.
Everything was fine, they spoke with the president, but it went over Ramos’ head, he had no idea.
Once he got to the finalization, he was upset that they went on top of him and said nothing to him, obviously doing the trick behind his back.
Pennant returned to England after playing for Real Zaragoza and signing for Stoke City
So he said he wasn’t happy about it and he didn’t want it sanctioned, and then it didn’t happen.
At Fratton Park, Pennant played 13 times for Pompey without finding the net and was not offered a new contract on his return to Merseyside.
Pennant eventually found himself in Spain that year, joining Real Zaragoza on a one-year contract at the start of the 2009–10 season.
He would later return to the Premier League with Stoke City, then had spells with Wigan and Bury and short spells in India and Singapore, before retiring in 2019.
