Spending most of his career in Peru barring a few spells abroad in Bulgaria, France and Slovakia, Jean Deza also gathered interest from the Premier League at one point, namely Liverpool and West Ham United.
That’s what the player has revealed in an interview to journalist Franco Lostaunau on a podcast, relayed by El Popular in his home country.
The 29-year-old, who currently plays for AD Tarma in Peru, talked about various instances during the early days of his career where agents and intermediaries tried to make money off him by trying to sell him abroad, with trials here and there in Germany and Switzerland.
He eventually ended up at Montpellier on loan in 2013, which was his second stint in Europe after a one and a half year spell with MSK Zilina.
Then, back in 2014, when he was already with the French side, he also represented his country in a 3-0 friendly loss against England, where he was noticed by many scouts
Among those were Liverpool and West Ham, but the Ligue 1 side made sure to make the move permanent for £450k at that point.
Deza explains: “Then comes to national team call up from Pablo Bengoechea, in Wembley. Even Manuel Barga (the former president of the Peruvian FA) congratulated me. After the game in England, Montpellier buy me. Liverpool and West Ham wanted me. The contract was extended and that’s when the worst of Jean Deza started.”
The winger was never able to consistently perform in France, making just 24 appearances for Montpellier, scoring one goal and providing one assist.
He then returned to Peru with Alianza Lima on loan, before moving on a free to Levski Sofia in 2016, who released him less than a year later.
He has since managed to get his career somewhat back on track, now at AD Tarma, but it’s clear he has been unfortunate when it comes to being used by agents, who simply wanted to fill their pockets.
Either way, a move to Liverpool and West Ham never happened.
