Liverpool ‘tapped up’ star mid-match as he was requested ‘who’s your agent?’

Jermaine Pennant claims Steven Gerrard tried to ‘tap him up’ in the middle of a game back in 2006, a few months before he joined Liverpool.

The former winger was plying his trade at Birmingham City at the time after leaving Arsenal the year before when Gerrard approached him mid-match to ask him a question. Pennant, who became the world’s most expensive 15-year-old when Arsenal signed him from Notts County for £2million in 1999, had endured a tough few years after failing to make the grade at Highbury, and underwhelming during several loan stints.

His form picked up at Birmingham during the 2005/06 campaign, though, and when Gerrard ran over to ask him who his agent was mid-way through a clash with Liverpool, he realised a dream move to Anfield could be on the cards. “He [Gerrard] knew I was a good player because he half tapped me up in one game,” Pennant told talkSPORT.

“I was playing against Liverpool and he came running over to me during the game, saying, ‘Who’s your agent?’ I said it was Sky Andrew and that was the last thing he said – I was bamboozled.

“So I ran over to him and said, ‘Do you know him?’ At this time, the game is going on. The ball’s gone out of play. He just went to me ‘Who’s your agent?’ And I was with Sky Andrew at the time. And he said ‘Okay, lad’ – and then ran off. My brain was frazzled. I’m thinking, ‘Why’s Steven Gerrard asking me this?’.”

Birmingham were in a relegation scrap at the time, but Pennant couldn’t resist cheekily ignoring his tactical duties to have a subtle chinwag with Gerrard. “[Birmingham boss] Steve Bruce is probably looking thinking, ‘Where’s Jermaine going? Why is he peeling off to the left – he plays on the right!’ But I’ve gone off to speak to Steven Gerrard!

“So I said to him, ‘Why, do you know him?’ He’s gone, ‘Nah, nah, nah’. Then I’ve said, ‘Do you want his number?’ So after the game, I phoned my agent and I said, ‘Steven Gerrard wants your number. Do you know him? Get his number! Call him!'”

Birmingham were relegated a few weeks later which, in hindsight, was convenient for a wantaway like Pennant. In the summer, Liverpool signed him for a cool £6.7m.

The winger ended up spending three seasons on the books at Anfield. He made 81 appearances for the club, won the Community Shield in 2006, and was part of the Liverpool side that lost in the Champions League final in 2007.

Over time, he lost his place in the first team following attacking arrivals such as Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, and Albert Riera, leading to a loan stint at Portsmouth during his third and final season, and in 2009, he signed for Real Sociedad.

Later, he had stints with the likes of Stoke, Wolves and Bury, before eventually hanging up his boots in 2017.