Rickie Lambert has revealed that he rejected the chance to join Aston Villa on transfer deadline day earlier this month as he didn’t want to leave Liverpool after spending just six months at the club.
Since his summer switch from Southampton, the England striker has found himself on the fringes of the Liverpool squad and has made just five league starts this season at Anfield.
With only three goals in all competitions, there was speculation that the club and the player were both willing to part ways during the winter transfer window.
Liverpool even accepted a bid from Aston Villa for Lambert, but the striker himself rejected a chance to move to Villa Park and chose to fight for his place in the Reds squad.
The 33-year-old revealed the details of the frantic discussions that were taking place on deadline day and said that it was Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers who called to inform him about Villa’s interest.
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The striker said though Rodgers was open about his standing in the Liverpool squad, he didn’t want him to leave the club in the winter window.
"I got a phone call from the gaffer saying Aston Villa had come in", Lambert explained.
"He said he didn't want me to go. He basically offered me the chance if I wanted to play football, which is fair enough.
"The phone call was about four o'clock on that day. I spoke to my agent, I spoke to my wife, spoke to Aston Villa and it was close.”
Lambert stressed that he rejected a chance to move to Villa Park for more first team football as he didn’t want to cut short his dream move to Liverpool after only just six months at the club.
"But it was something I just couldn't do. It was too short notice. I'm at Liverpool and I didn't want to leave after six months.
“That's something I might have looked back on when I'd retired and regretted more than anything really.”
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