'I turned down a million bonus to join Real Madrid and laughed on my way to Liverpool'

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Liverpool were forced to watch helplessly as both Tchouameni and Bellingham secured lucrative transfers to Real Madrid.

The Reds have begrudgingly become accustomed to struggling against the Spanish giants when competing directly for fresh talent.

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Even during this summer's window, which witnessed Liverpool owners FSG approve an extraordinary spending spree that saw the club smash the British transfer record on two occasions, Madrid beat the Premier League title holders and other elite competitors to secure Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen.

Yet things weren't always this challenging.

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When the Reds captured Markus Babbel on a free transfer from Bayern Munich during summer 2000, he spurned overtures from Madrid, who were the reigning European champions at that point, to join Liverpool instead.

"Yeah, yeah, Real Madrid wanted me," he confirmed when speaking to the Liverpool Echo.

"It was a funny story because there was an agent there.

And I said: 'Oh, thank you very much, but Real Madrid is not my club'.

"If I go to Spain, then the only team I would sign for is Barcelona, because I am a massive Barcelona supporter and Real Madrid wasn't ever my club and my team.

That was a bit funny, yeah."

Babbel, who celebrates his 53rd birthday today, would enjoy a remarkable debut campaign at Anfield, assisting Gerard Houllier's squad in securing the treble and earning Champions League qualification in 2000/01.

Babbel played 73 games for Liverpool between 2000 and 2004 (Image: GETTY)

Operating as right-back, he featured consistently throughout the Premier League campaign and commenced all 60 of his matches that season from Liverpool's total of 63 fixtures.

Contributing six strikes and five assists, standout moments included finding the net in a dramatic 3-2 Merseyside derby triumph against Everton at Goodison Park, providing the leveller in the FA Cup final and bagging the opening goal in the UEFA Cup final victory over Alaves.

But while he would feature in both of Liverpool's Charity Shield and European Super Cup triumphs over Manchester United and Bayern Munich the subsequent August, completing an extraordinary quintuple of silverware within the calendar year, catastrophe lay in wait.

Withdrawn at the interval during Premier League encounters against West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers, completely breathless, he received a diagnosis of the devastating and crippling Guillain-Barre syndrome and found himself confined to a wheelchair.

He astonishingly managed a playing comeback in August 2002, but predictably encountered difficulties as he battled to recapture his former brilliance and clashed with Houllier during the process.

Hauled off before the break in what would ultimately prove his final outing for the club during a 4-3 victory over Aston Villa in December 2002, he peeled off his jersey in an act of defiance following a woeful performance.

Subsequently dismissed twice whilst featuring for the reserves, the second occasion for headbutting Michael Symes in the mini Merseyside derby against Everton which resulted in a two-week wage penalty, Houllier would later acknowledge that Babbel possessed no prospects at the club.

"I doubt he will play for us again because I gave him many chances and it hasn't worked out," the Frenchman declared.

"It doesn't look as though his attitude is the best at the moment.

So that was much easier to come back to the normal Markus than I was in this time after my illness in England."

Thankfully for Babbel, he managed to reconcile and offer his apologies to former boss Houllier when he received an invitation to participate in the 'Celebration of the 96' Hillsborough 25th anniversary charity fixture at Anfield in 2014.

Houllier tragically died in December 2020.

"Afterwards, the good thing for me was, the 25th Hillsborough anniversary, there was a game in Liverpool at Anfield," he said.