Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant has claimed that he was on the verge of signing for Real Madrid back in 2008 but his dream was stopped by then Real boss Juande Ramos, leaving Los Blancos with an even odder signing.
The history of football is littered with transfers that never happened. Transfers that would have drastically changed what happened next, either for one player or the whole game.
There are many reasons why a transfer ends up not happening from greed to cold feet to injury problems to someone just not fancying the move.
For Jermaine Pennant his whole life might have been different had Juande Ramos not stopped him from moving to Real Madrid from Liverpool.
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According to the former winger, talking to this month's FourFourTwo magazine, in January 2009 he was on the verge of ditching Anfield for the Bernabeu.
Ramon Calderon and the rest of the board wanted Pennant but it seems that Ramos wasn't keen with the former Bury player saying:
"Real Madrid wanted to sign me when [ex-Spurs manager] Juande Ramos, was in charge there.
"The board wanted to do the deal as they wanted a right-winger. On transfer deadline day I got a call from my agent, saying, 'You could be going to Madrid - keep your phone on.'
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"But the board had gone over the manager's head, so he started to get upset, and to placate him they pulled the plug on the deal. The club wanted me; the manager didn't."
What makes this story even more magical is the fact that not long after this happened Los Blancos did sign someone to play on the right side.
At the end of the January transfer window that year they signed West Ham player Julien Faubert on loan with the Frenchman playing twice for Real in that spell.
Ramos and Faubert were out of Spain by the end of the season but Pennant moved to Spain with Real Zaragoza later in 2009 and he revealed he didn't always take life 100% seriously in La Liga, adding:
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"Zaragoza was a bit difficult to live in as it was traditional Spain - it wasn't very multicultural.
"On days off, I would go to Madrid or Barcelona for a good time. Once, I went to Barcelona for a night out and then got the train back on the morning of training, but I felt so bad that I couldn't go in, so I told them I wasn't well. The club doctor came to my house to check on me, but I didn't answer the door. I think they knew!"
If Pennant had gone to Real we wouldn't have had Faubert go there or possibly Pennant leaving his car in Spain, so thank you Juande!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Spurs, Liverpool, Football News, Premier League, Spanish football, Real Madrid, La Liga
