Italian forward turned controversial pundit Antonio Cassano has revealed he could have joined Liverpool when he was leaving Real Madrid in 2008.
Cassano retired in 2018 after a varied career that has seen him play for Bari, Roma, Real Madrid, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Parma and Hellas Verona.
The move to Spain came about after five impressive years in Rome, where he scored 52 goals and registered 27 assists in 161 games for the Italian club.
He came nowhere near to replicating that for Madrid, managing just four goals and three assists in 29 games for the Spanish giants in an ill-fated spell that saw him shipped out on loan to Sampdoria after a year and then permanently the next season.
That move started a spell of bouncing around various Italian clubs for Cassano, who, as a result, never made it to the Premier League.
It seems that the opportunity was there for him, though, with the former striker revealing that Liverpool were keen on his signature when he was departing the Bernabeu.
“If I could have played in the Premier League? With a pipe in my mouth,” Ita Sport Press report him saying.
“I could have easily played in the Premier. Even players like Coutinho, Zola, Carbone, they were similar players to me, but I do another sport obviously.
“They did well there. Because it’s true that they are physically strong and go a thousand miles an hour, but qualitatively… – even if they’ve been going up a lot for 3-4 years, but we’re talking about 15 years ago.
“When I was leaving Real Madrid, I had an offer from the Premier League. I could have gone to Liverpool. But I wanted to go home.
“I thought though: ‘If I’m abroad, in the strongest team in the world, what do I do, go to England? Either I go back home, or I stay at Real. But I would have played there very easily.”
Instead of Cassano, that year saw Liverpool spend money on the likes of Robbie Keane, Javier Mascherano and Albert Riera.
