Deschamps "Why I didn't join Reds"

Didier Deschamps has lifted the lid on why he chose to reject the overtures of Liverpool last summer, claiming that the timing of the approach was not right given his commitment to Marseille.

Deschamps had made it well known that he planned to see out his contract at Stade Velodrome, meaning he had no choice but to turn the Reds down when they came calling just weeks before the new Ligue 1 pre-season was about to kick off.

“I was immensely flattered to receive Liverpool’s offer but there are two principal reasons that made me stay at Marseille,” he said.

“I thought about it for more than two seconds, I won’t lie to you. Believe me. It’s not every day Liverpool come knocking on your door.

“It was not an easy decision, I tell you, not easy. But I had given my word here.

“I had a year left on my contract and committed myself to staying, giving my promise to the president, the fans and the players.

“There were players who came here for me. Then Liverpool’s offer came two days before we started pre-season at the end of June.

“As I am a man of my word, I couldn’t do it.

“At the same time we also had the controversy of the French team at the World Cup in South Africaand I couldn’t see myself adding to that by dropping Marseille in it two days before pre-season and saying ‘That’s it, I’m going to Liverpool’.”

Deschamps was a leading candidate to replace Rafa Benitez last summer, and remains in the frame to become our next permanent manager if Kenny Dalglish isn’t handed the job on a full-time basis. That, though, is an unlikely scenario given the King’s emphatic start to life back in charge.