I’m angry and frustrated by the egregious situation’ – Liverpool chairman was furious at £5million transfer that failed to impress Gary Lineker

The Australian moved to Anfield from Elland Road in 2003 and transfer details still seem unreliable today.

When a top player moves from one Premier League club to another for around £150million these days, it’s hard to imagine there could be so much excitement around a transfer which costs £5million.

Our story doesn’t go that far back in history that it would have been a record transfer fee. Manchester United signed 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo for £12million this year, partly as a replacement for David Beckham, who was on his way to Real Madrid for £25million.

In fact, Liverpool were thought to have landed one of the summer signings in 2003 when Harry brought in Kewell from Leeds under difficult circumstances.

Leeds were just two years away from reaching the Champions League semi-finals, finishing fifth in the league in 2001/02. But then they had a bad campaign the following year, winning no trophies and changing managers mid-season.

The Yorkshire team were in dire financial straits and had already started selling their best players, which would inevitably lead to their relegation in 2004.

In the 12 months leading up to Kewell’s departure, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Keane, Lee Bowyer, Jonathan Woodgate and Robbie Fowler left the club to join rival sides in the Premier League.

It was therefore inevitable that the Leeds Australian striker would stay away too long, although his next destination and the size of the transfer fee required to sign him were far from certain.

Given the competition Liverpool faced to secure the signing of him, it seems at first surprising that he only cost £5m to sign.

As much as transfer rumors should always be taken with a grain of salt, rumor has it that the big four Premier League clubs (as before the rise of Manchester City and Tottenham), Barcelona and Champions League holders Milan , coveted Kewell in 2003.

Such interest means a big battle over money transfers would be on the cards and Leeds had no doubt hoped that would be the case.
But Kewell was determined to sign for the club he had supported since childhood.

There’s nothing wrong with that, although how he went about it has been very controversial.

Liverpool initially offered £7m for the Australian, as did Chelsea and United. Leeds were happy with the amount – Kewell could have gone free 12 months later – so all seemed in order for the move to Anfield.

The Reds then used Bosman’s imminent availability of the player to cut the fee to £5m and to make matters worse for Leeds, £2m would go to Kewell’s agent (Bernie Mandic) to ensure that the deal did not fail.
What could white people do but accept?

They certainly weren’t happy with the terms of the deal and published letters between the club and Mandic on their website (which are still there) to appease their supporters and portray Kewell as the villain.

Leeds chairman John McKenzie said: “I am angry and frustrated at the scandalous situation that has arisen. There were clubs willing to pay more than the £5million offered by Liverpool.

Mr Mandic listed them – Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Milan, Chelsea – but it was made clear to me that the player was not ready to leave and if we didn’t comply he would go for nothing. So what could we do? »

Kewell’s actions briefly resonated with English football. Gary Lineker wrote a scathing column about the transfer and was later sued by the Australian.

But Liverpool didn’t care how the move happened, they were just happy it happened. Gerard Houllier, the manager of the Reds, was delighted to have acquired Kewell. “This is a fantastic resource for the club and its fans,” he told the club’s website.

“We had talked about bringing in players who would have the fans on the edge of their seats and I can’t think of a better description of the qualities Harry will bring to Anfield,” added Houllier.

But while it was a fair point at the time, things didn’t end so well for Kewell. He spent five seasons with Merseyside, scoring just 16 goals in 139 appearances in all competitions. Having scored 14 league goals in his final season with Leeds, he fell short of Liverpool on that front.

And he is probably best remembered now for being injured after just 23 minutes in Istanbul and 48 minutes in next season’s FA Cup final. His time with the Reds was plagued by fitness issues, and these were just the major ones.

So was the controversial move really worth it to anyone in the end? Although he didn’t make as big an impression as he had hoped, Kewell won the medal with his youth club. However, you can’t blame Leeds for being dissatisfied with how it turned out.