5 players who handed in infamous transfer requests in the Premier League

#5 Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard's 2005 transfer request was hugely controversial at the time

Gerrard is so synonymous with Liverpool since the turn of the millennium that it seems insane to think there was a time he was close to leaving – let alone putting a transfer request in – but it did indeed happen, in the summer of 2005. The timing makes it even more surprising given Gerrard had just captained the Reds to their most remarkable trophy win – the miracle of Istanbul that saw them snatch the Champions League from under the noses of AC Milan.

Rumours of Gerrard wishing to leave Liverpool had been floating around since the summer of 2004, when he’d flirted with a move to Chelsea to hook up with manager Jose Mourinho and his England teammates John Terry and Frank Lampard. But things became serious in the summer of 2005 when negotiations over a new Liverpool contract stalled and Gerrard turned down a club-record wage of £100k a week.

The club captain called his agent and asked him to telephone Liverpool and put in an informal transfer request, with a formal, written one to follow if the club so asked for it. Liverpool’s chief executive Rick Parry even appeared to be ready to draw a line under the Gerrard era, only for the player to suddenly U-turn the next day, signing a new deal and stating that one trophy with Liverpool would mean more to him than dozens with Chelsea.

Parry claimed the whole issue was down to miscommunication; the rumours claimed Scouse gangsters had threatened Gerrard into staying; the more likely truth was that the club simply bent to Gerrard’s wage demands. Either way, it was one of the most unlikely – and controversial – transfer requests of all time.