I nearly joined Real Madrid on a free transfer but former Tottenham manager put a stop to it
JERMAINE PENNANT has revealed he was once close to joining Real Madrid on a free transfer.
The former Arsenal and Liverpool star claimed he nearly joined Los Blancos in 2009 before then-boss Juande Ramos stopped the deal.
Pennant, 40, was on his way out of Liverpool at the time as his contract was set to expire at Anfield.
The Nottingham-born star was excited about the prospect of the move, even if it meant having to sit on the bench.
The now-retired winger insisted that the deal was close to being finalised before Ramos stepped in after being angered by the move going above his head.
Pennant said on talkSPORT: “I was going to sign a pre-contract with Real Madrid in the January.
“I think the manager at the time was the ex-Spurs manager, Juande Ramos.
“My agent got the call saying Real Madrid need a right midfielder, and straight away I was like ‘what?, really?’
“I was like ‘I am free, I will do that’, even if it meant that I had to sit on the bench.
“That was all okay, they spoke with the president, but it went above Ramos’ head, he had no idea about it.
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“Once it got to finalising, he was upset that they had gone above him and not told him, obviously doing the deal behind his back.
“So, he said he was not happy with this, and did not want this sanctioned, and then it did not materialise.”
After the move fell through, Pennant went on to join Portsmouth on a six-month loan deal.
However, he would get a move to Spain that summer as he joined Real Zaragoza for a year before returning to England with Stoke City.
After leaving Stoke in 2014, he had spells at FC Pune City and Billericay Town before retiring in 2017.
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