Jamie Carragher has revealed Liverpool tried to sign Sol Campbell before he completed his controversial transfer to Arsenal 2001
The former England international infamously joined the Gunners on a Bosman transfer from bitter-rivals Tottenham
After months of negotiations and public assurances that he would stay put, the centre-back declared he needed to leave in order to play Champions League football.
Several elite European clubs were interested in signing Campbell at the time, but he controversially decided to join Arsenal on a free transfer.
Campbell made 315 appearances for the club over nine years, scoring 15 goals, and captained them to League Cup success in 1999.
Campbell remains hated by Tottenham fans to this day, over 20 years later
But Carragher has revealed he has no sympathy for his former England team-mate, admitting he believes his fellow centre-back, who also attracted interest from Liverpool, should never have moved across North London.
Carragher
You can’t make that move, you can’t do that,”
“We all know football fans are emotional, they keep things there, they never forget. Sometimes you think it’s a bit over the top.
“But that one, I don’t have any sympathy there with Sol Campbell. You can’t go from a local player and go to your biggest rivals.
“Because he had other options. I think he could’ve gone to Barcelona, I know we were in for him at the time, Liverpool, it wasn’t like it was his only thing he could’ve done. You just can’t do that.
“I was flabbergasted when, I remember when White Hart Lane had its last game and they invited all the legends there. They didn’t invite Sol Campbell and he was really upset about it
“What do you expect? There was no way he was ever going to be invited back. He was a great player (though).”
Gary Neville would jokingly suggest Carragher as a football traitor himself, considering the Liverpool legend grew up an Everton fan
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