Glen Johnson: Liverpool didn’t turn me down, I turned them down

Posted Saturday, August 08, 2015 by squawka.com

Stoke City full-back Glen Johnson has claimed that he rejected Liverpool and he is happy that his time with the club ended on his terms, as per the Daily Mirror.

Johnson was with Liverpool since 2009 and although for a time he was one of their better players, things turned sour during his final couple of seasons.

As well as injury problems Johnson was constantly overlooked by Brendan Rodgers even though the team needed a right-back and it was no surprise for fans that his contract was not renewed.

Glen Johnson playing for Stoke City during pre-season.

However, now Johnson has said that he was the one to reject Liverpool and he left the club on his own terms which is what he wanted – something which perhaps won’t go down well with the Anfield faithful.

"I had a very good time [at Liverpool] and enjoyed the majority of it. But I turned down a new contract at the end of the day, so it ended exactly how I would like,” Johnson said, as per the newspaper.

"I met Mark Hughes and everything he had to say was what I wanted to hear. I’m settling in well and I’ve been made to feel welcome, so it couldn’t be going any better at the moment.

"It’s just typical my first game [for Stoke] is against my old club. That’s football and we’ll do what we’ve got to do. It’s my job and I’ll treat it as any other game.

"I’ve been in the Premier League for 12 years – I’ve got nothing to prove. When I was fit I was in the team, simple as that. There’s no problems at all."

The news will come as a surprise to most Liverpool fans and they will be hoping that their former player doesn’t come back to haunt them on the opening day of the season.

Liverpool travel to Stoke on Sunday for a repeat of the final day where Stoke hammered their opponents 6-1 in Steven Gerrard’s final game.
Stoke’s new number eight wasn’t selected for that game and it will be interesting to see whether he is handed his first competitive start by manager Mark Hughes.