Anton Ferdinand has told talkSPORT about how he could have gone to Barcelona.
And we don’t mean on holiday, he could have signed for Barcelona. Yes, really.
The year was 2006 and Anton was tipped for big things as he impressed in his first season in the Premier League.
The defender helped West Ham to the FA Cup final that year, where they famously lost to Liverpool after THAT goal by Steven Gerrard.
He was even expected by many to get an England call-up for the 2006 World Cup alongside his brother, Rio, although the Three Lions Under-21s regular eventually missed out on a place.
Despite that personal blow, the 21-year-old Anton was linked with moves to Arsenal and even a dream move to Barcelona that summer.
However, he claims his former West Ham boss Alan Pardew blocked his path to the Camp Nou with a £4million fee touted.
Drivetime host Andy Goldstein – who jokingly asked if they had meant to sign Rio instead – didn’t believe it and, with respect, can you blame him?
But Anton insisted it was true, and said he even changed agents after his Catalan switch didn’t go through.
Asked about the story, the former defender told talkSPORT: “Yeah, there were talks, that’s right.
“They, Barcelona, they made an inquiry, but the club said no.”
Goldstein, audibly stunned, said: “I don’t believe any manager would be allowed to stand in the way of that good a deal for a player. So, what happened?”
Ferdinand continued: “It was on Spanish Football [on Sky Sports], there was a big segment on the show talking about it. Barcelona were interested, they enquired, but it just never materialised.”
Goldstein asked: “Because Pardew wouldn’t allow it?”
“He wouldn’t allow anything.” said Ferdinand.
Still stunned, Goldstein asked: “But your agent, couldn’t he say, ‘Irrelevant of what you think, we’re taking our man’?”
And Ferdinand revealed: “That’s why I changed agents!
“I’m not sure if Alan Pardew stood in the way of it, but there were things going on that didn’t allow it to happen.
“If I would have gone there, things would have been different.”
You can say that again.
Barcelona would go on to win a LaLiga, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble in the 2008/09 season in Pep Guardiola’s first campaign in charge – a historic team that could well have featured the Englishman.
Instead, in 2008 Ferdinand left West Ham for Sunderland in a deal worth around £8m.
Speaking to Ladbrokes in 2021, Ferdinand claimed West Ham priced him out of a move and demanded too much when Barcelona came calling, which saw his dream move to Spain collapse.
“The money that they wanted for their English players at the time was a lot,” he said.
“I ended up going to Sunderland for £8m which was a lot of money at the time for a defender.
“Arsenal asked about me in the past as well; I think Arsene Wenger wanted to pay £4m for me but West Ham wanted more money. It was around the time he went and bought Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou instead. He signed those two instead of me.
“There’s no doubt about it that if I’d have gone to that World Cup in 2006 a big move would’ve happened for me. There’s no doubt about it.
“If I’d have gone there [to Barcelona], I’d probably still be playing now at 36.”
Oh what could have been.
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