‘Liverpool Gave Me New five-Year Contract And Sold Me Days Later’ – I Was Heartbroken

With Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold edging dangerously close to the final six months of their Liverpool contracts, supporters continue to wait anxiously in hope that the Reds trio pen extensions to remain at Anfield.

They remain arguably the three first names on Arne Slot’s team sheet, after all.

Both Salah and Van Dijk might both be on the wrong side of 30 but the pair are showing no signs of slowing down as they navigate their veteran years. Meanwhile, Alexander-Arnold, who continues to be repeatedly linked to Real Madrid, is miraculously still only 26 years old and coming into his prime.

But imagine a scenario where any of the trio sign a new long-term contract with Liverpool, only to find themselves then sold on only days later.

It’s a surreal concept, but that is exactly what happened to former Reds star Dominic Matteo back in the summer of 2000.

“On the Monday, I was signing a five-year deal that, by the standards of the day, was a lucrative one. But, just four days later, I was on my way out of Liverpool,” Matteo revealed in his autobiography, ‘In My Defence’, published in 2011. “I was in shock. How could things change so quickly in just four days?

“The thought of leaving was an upsetting one. But, for the good of my career, I needed a fresh start. So, I went. It meant I missed out on all the trophies that Liverpool won the following season. I’ll admit that seeing the lads pick up the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup was difficult.”

Matteo had just enjoyed his most successful season yet for Liverpool in 1999/00, starting 32 times in the Premier League and recording six assists. But Gerard Houllier’s decision to pursue Christian Ziege from Middlesbrough, despite handing the Scotland international a new long-term contract, proved to be the death knell on his Reds career.

In an exclusive interview with the ECHO, Matteo, who teamed up with gambling harm prevention specialist EPIC Global Solutions in a new role as a programme facilitator earlier this year, admits he was heartbroken to leave Liverpool.

But while he is confident Houllier wanted to keep him, having only just signed that contract extension, and had faith in his ability to play ahead of Ziege, he did not want to risk giving up on regular starting football.

“When I left Liverpool, I had five years left on my contract,” he recalled. “I didn’t think I was going anywhere, but I didn’t think I was going to get the game time again.

“The reason why I left was because of that. There was no other reason. I wanted to stay, but I wasn’t going to get the game time. I thought I couldn’t have another three or four years of not playing. It just wasn’t what I wanted.

“So Gerard had to make a call. You have to make calls and I think he definitely wanted to keep me. No two ways about that.

“I generally thought I would play ahead of Ziege in my own head, because you have got to have that confidence about yourself. I wasn’t being cocky, I just thought I could match that. And I could play numerous positions as well, which I always thought was a help.

“If you look at that the year before, I was probably one of the best players! I didn’t miss many games.

“And obviously Liverpool just missed out on the Champions League that year. We lost at Bradford of all places, 1-0. But things could have been different. I think if we’d won that game, would I stay? Maybe. You know, I might stayed. I don’t know, but obviously, again, it was about playing that next season.”

He continued: “Obviously I was gutted that I had to leave. Even though we talked about the five years and my contract, I was gutted. I was gutted, I was heartbroken for a long time, but I had to make the right call to play games.

“And obviously getting the opportunity to go to Leeds and we were in the Champions League. But then that year Liverpool go and win the UEFA Cup. So for me, mixed emotions.

“It would’ve been nice in a way. You’d be lying if you didn’t say I’d like to have stayed and won things with them, of course I would. But life doesn’t work like that. You move forward into your career.

“The one thing I would want to do is to have won those trophies, like everyone else did. But I didn’t manage to get that. And that’s something that always bugs you.

“It shouldn’t bug people, but it kind of does in a way, because you’ve been at a club for so long and you just miss out on stuff. But that’s football.

“A lot of people can have great careers but don’t win all them trophies and. That wasn’t just for me, I was just happy to be playing football and playing for Liverpool at that point, and to play at the highest level.

“But then you get the opportunity to go to a club like Leeds United. So it all ended up, I was winning either way with them. I’m happy. I played in that red shirt and then got to move across the Pennines.”

Ziege would actually end up flopping at Anfield was sold to Tottenham Hotspur after just one season, while Matteo established himself as a firm fan-favourite at Leeds United.

Didi Hamann, who played alongside Ziege for both Bayern Munich and Germany, even urged Matteo to stay put and told the defender he would start ahead of his compatriot. But after seven years in the Liverpool first team without being first-choice for the majority, the now 50-year-old had already had his share of fighting for his place.

“I wanted to play. I knew I was playing well,” he reiterated. “I knew I was hitting things at the right moment. Things were working for me training wise and everything was going in the right direction.

“But obviously when you’re a club like Liverpool and the big hitters come in for someone, you always know and I had a lot of that.

“When I was a young player at Liverpool, there was so much experience coming in. John Scales, Phil Babb, Mark Wright, all these people were ahead of me. They’re all great players, all had great careers.

“But I’m thinking, ‘When am I going to get my chance to play my actual position?’ So it was a lot of things in my mind going around thinking I want to play more.

“At that point I was playing very well. I was playing well. Didi was my mate, he was trying to support me even though he’s German as well as Ziege, but I think he knew there was a place for me whether it would have been at full-back or centre-back.

“I think he was just wanting to keep me around because he knew that the improvement in me over the last few years, I knew it was better. And it was all down to playing regularly and staying away from injuries. That’s key.

“But regular football, when you’re at a club like Liverpool, it’s hard. Unless you’re the superstar like Fowler or Michael Owen, they’re always going to play.

“But when you are another young lad coming through who hasn’t quite got the pedigree that they’ve got, it’s always going to be a battle to get into the first team.

“And there’s only so long you can do that for before you have to make a choice. And I suppose that’s what happened, I had to make a choice. And it was to go to Leeds United.”

Matteo actually ended up failing his medical with Leeds United because of a knee injury, but he was assured that his £4.75m transfer would go through regardless. Having come through the youth ranks with Liverpool, his Reds career was over.

“David (O’Leary) and Peter (Ridsdale) said to me, ‘We’re signing you on a long contract. So whatever this scenario is, we want you anyway,” he said. “‘We know you can get back quick from injuries’.

“The injury was not even that bad, it was a four or five-week, six-week injury. So you know they looked into that as well.

“But the physio said to me, ‘Why are we actually doing this medical? You know you’re not going to pass it’. But we did it anyway just to check. And, yeah, I had a little tear in my knee.

“I could have played on with that. I played my last game for Liverpool against Parma at Anfield. We won 5-0 and I played that day with it and it was fine. I just cracked on with it.

“But I kind of knew that might have been my last game for Liverpool at that moment. So we battered Parma and then I kind of knew that was my big time up, before the move to the Pennines and a chance to go into the Champions League.”