Xabi Alonso phone call helped Liverpool beat Manchester City and Chelsea to £17.5m transfer

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With a number of key players also sold without being replaced, it’s fair to say the full-back did not enjoy the easiest start to life at Liverpool.“There were a lot of issues with owners, Rafa lost his job and we sold three of our best players and didn’t replace any of them,” Johnson recalled. 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.

We were playing some great football and were unlucky we didn’t get over the line.“Everyone thinks we lost the league when Stevie slipped or when we didn’t win against Palace, but that’s wrong. But he just didn’t want to do it.”Johnson continued: “I’m happy with my time there and I loved every single minute of it.

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. The owners wanted out and we didn’t know who was going to buy the club.