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However, in a summer that would also see Xabi Alonso depart the club and the turmoil brought from hapless owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s fractured partnership only worsening, the Reds were about to become a club on the decline with such silverware evading them until long after the right back's exit.

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But the Spanish midfielder’s desire to return to Spain that summer didn’t prevent him from playing a key role in bringing Johnson to Anfield.

“If a club like Liverpool comes knocking, you obviously immediately have an eye on it and an interest,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview with the ECHO in November 2021.



Straight away, I felt like I knew them and it made me feel super welcome before I signed and everything just felt right.”

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In truth, in hindsight the fact that Liverpool were only able to spend £17.5m to sign Johnson from Portsmouth by cancelling out £7m the financially-stricken outfit owed to them for Peter Crouch was an early sign of their dwindling fortunes in difficult circumstances waiting around the corner.

Of course Johnson would not know that the Reds would fail to kick on under Benitez before meandering in transition in the years ahead under a succession of new managers as new owners looked to steady the ship.

With all the issues going on in the background, the best players leaving, the managers leaving, it’s hard to string some sort of foundation together.”

While it was admittedly an unsettling time to be a Liverpool player, FSG’s takeover of the club in October 2010 did at least steady the ship, while Johnson would win the only trophy of his Reds career the following season courtesy of the League Cup.

Scoring in the penalty shoot-out victory over Cardiff City at Wembley in 2012, only the woodwork denied him even more of the headlines and one of the great cup final goals as he hit the crossbar in the opening minutes.

“I remember, just before I hit the bar, I remember hitting a long, diagonal pass wide and I just heard Stevie say, 'go on',” Johnson recalled.

And it was under the Northern Irishman that Liverpool would challenge for the Premier League title for the only time during Johnson’s time with the club.

A Gerrard slip against Chelsea and an infamous Crystal Palace comeback would see the Reds fall short in the final weeks of the season, with Man City leapfrogging them to be crowned champions.

It’s just a shame really because if he wanted to, he could have been one of the best players around.

It’s just a shame we couldn’t win more.

“For a club like Liverpool to go so long without a trophy, I know we managed to get one, but really you sign for these clubs because you want to be competing for the Premier League.”

Had he stayed at Liverpool for another season, Johnson would have had the chance to work with Jurgen Klopp.
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