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Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has sensationally revealed Arsenal made a 20m GBP offer for him after he returned from South Africa with his World Cup winners medal.
However, a move to Arsenal failed to be completed as Liverpool's previous owners decided to keep the goalkeeper as the shareholders pushed for a sale of the club.
Reina admits that his failed move hurt him and his World Cup elation turned to depression straight away.
"I went from elation one minute to depression the next as the realisation dawned that Liverpool were going nowhere fast," he wrote in Pepe: My Autobiography. "When I signed my contract in April 2010 I hoped that better times were just around the corner, a feeling that was fuelled by the promises of improvement from people at the club.
"It didn't take me long to feel that their promises were hollow. I felt betrayed. Our owners were at war with each other, the club's debts were spiralling out of control and a change in manager had failed to dispel the feeling that we were on the road to nowhere.
"Arsenal had made their determination to sign me clear by offering £20 million, a phenomenal amount for a goalkeeper. Part of me felt that I was well within my rights to consider my future even if I did so with a heavy heart.
"When Liverpool received the bid, they rejected it. This was not because I had been told that I was too good a keeper to leave. The reason I was given was quite different - and it left me feeling down. I was told that my continued presence was crucial to the sale of the club. I was simply a bargaining chip in the sales process."
Written by majicka
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