SAINTS goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has revealed he was close to signing for Liverpool before a call from Harry Redknapp persuaded him to instead join QPR. The 32-year-old is now into his seventh season at St Mary’s and has lost his number one role to summer signing Gavin Bazunu, who has played every Premier League minute this year. McCarthy, a Reading shot-stopper at the time, was a wanted man across the Premier League in 2014 and had played under then-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers with the Royals. He reveals being stood at a train station ready to head to Merseyside when another former Saints manager gave him a call.
Alex McCarthy said: “The move to QPR was strange because I’d worked with Brendan before at Reading and he wanted to bring me to Liverpool. The morning I ended up going to QPR, I was about to get on the train to Liverpool but then I had Harry Redknapp call me.”
McCarthy’s proposed move to Liverpool had been to provide competition and support for first-choice goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Alex McCarthy added: “I knew at Liverpool I wasn’t just going to go in and play, obviously he couldn’t guarantee me any football.But Harry Redknapp called me and obviously he knew about Liverpool and said there are definitely more opportunities to play here so it was a tough situation. Working with Brendan at Liverpool or Harry at QPR. I was stood at the train station with my dad and my agent going over it and over it and because I had been playing at Reading, I wanted to carry on playing so I ended up going to QPR and signing there. I’m a big believer that things always happen for a reason. It took me a while to get into the team and I when I did, I played against Liverpool and had to go off with a quad strain so I was out of the team again and Rob (Green) was doing well so it was a weird one. I had a chance to go to Liverpool but chose to go to QPR. I was there for a season, we got relegated and then I went to Crystal Palace.”
McCarthy spent just one season at both QPR and Crystal Palace, only playing a total of 10 Premier League games before moving to St Mary’s in 2016.
