I found out Liverpool were selling me for £13m from a text off a friend - I had no idea

I found out Liverpool were selling me for £13m from a text off a friend - I had no idea

Joe Allen, who scored his first goal for Liverpool on this day in 2013, did not see his departure coming

Joe Allen, pictured after scoring his final Liverpool goal in a win over Watford in May 2016, was dubbed the 'Welsh Xavi' by Brendan Rodgers but was sold by the Northern Irishman's predecessor Jurgen Klopp (Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images )

Liverpool will make the trip to PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday with the luxury of knowing that whatever happens in Eindhoven, they have already secured their passage into the round of 16. There will be no surprises.

The same could not be said of what happened on this day in 2013 as Brendan Rodgers' Reds, captained by Luis Suarez for the first time, suffered an embarrassing 3-2 FA Cup fourth-round defeat at then League One outfit Oldham Athletic.

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It was a match best remembered by beanpole striker Matt Smith's double strike, which not only fired big underdogs Oldham into the last 16 but also launched his own successful Football League career that came to an end in the summer after one final, goal-laden season at Salford City.

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But the tie also marked a first goal for Liverpool for Joe Allen, who had followed Rodgers from Swansea City the previous summer in a £15m move.

At the time of Allen's arrival, the Reds were taking part in a fly-on-the-wall series called 'Being: Liverpool', which was filmed between April and September 2012, and which covered a turbulent period with the end of Sir Kenny Dalglish’s second reign in charge and the opening months of Rodgers’ tenure.

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And in the third episode of the series, Rodgers infamously introduced Allen as the "Welsh Xavi", in reference to the Barcelona and Spain midfield great: “This is the Welsh Xavi. For me, Joe is a unique player.

"He’s a British player who is hungry for the ball. He’s embarrassed if he loses the ball. He’s 5ft 6in or 5ft 7in but in terms of football talent he’s 6ft 7in.”

The remark was clearly intended as a compliment but it ended up being one that was used as a stick to beat the player with and it was one he never managed to shake off.

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And after Rodgers was replaced by Jurgen Klopp in October 2015, Allen found regular game time hard to come by. That eventually resulted in the midfielder leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2016 to join Stoke City.

Around that time, Allen admitted he was disappointed about the way he departed the club, revealing that he only found out the Reds had accepted a £13m offer from Stoke through a friend.

Allen, who was 26 at the time and starring for surprise package Wales at Euro 2016, told the Daily Telegraph: “I had a text message off a friend congratulating me about making the move when I didn’t even know it was happening at the time.

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“Not knowing whether the club intend to sell you or keep you, especially when you’re trying to ask the question, is disappointing.

“To find out they accepted an offer through the press isn’t the best way of going about business, I don’t think. The communication wasn’t great but as soon as Liverpool accepted an offer I knew what their intentions were for me.

“There was no real goodbye, but I’m not the most sentimental person anyway.

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“Being a regular wasn’t going to happen and that’s fair enough. If you look at the quality Liverpool have got in midfield, and maybe the age of the players, I think I’d have been waiting for injuries and suspensions.

“I’m not going to be happy unless I’m on the pitch on a regular basis. I’m 26 now and the next four or five years are going to be my best. I’m really excited about this move because the ambition is there to get better.

“In the three seasons Mark Hughes has had you’ve seen the progress Stoke have made, the players he’s brought in and the style he has imposed. We’ve finished ninth three seasons running and the aim now is to look at those places above.”

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After scoring seven goals in 132 appearances for Liverpool, Allen would go on to stay six seasons at Stoke, netting 20 goals in 221 games, before returning to Swansea and then calling time on an excellent career that saw him represent Wales 76 times and play in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

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