Scott Sinclair has revealed he turned down interest from Liverpool to sign for Manchester City in the summer of 2012, admitting in hindsight that the move to Anfield would have been better for his career.
When Brendan Rodgers took over as Liverpool manager in 2012, he moved quickly to reunite with players he knew well. His first two signings were Fabio Borini and Joe Allen from Roma and Swansea City respectively, for a combined £25m. Rodgers also wanted to sign Swansea captain Ashley Williams and Gylfi Sigurdsson, but Williams stayed at Swansea while Sigurdsson joined Tottenham Hotspur in an £8m switch from Hoffenheim.
Sinclair's move to Man City
Sinclair, who had shone under Rodgers at Swansea after joining in 2010, scoring 27 goals in all competitions as they won promotion to the Premier League and eight goals in their maiden top-flight season, earned an initial £8m move to the Etihad. But he struggled to reach such heights at Manchester City, limited to just 11 Premier League appearances in his first season before loan moves to West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa, joining the latter permanently in 2015.
Looking back, Sinclair insists he could not say no to Manchester City but concedes he would have been better off signing for Liverpool.
Sinclair's regrets
“The first time I heard about the Man City interest was when I was playing for Team GB at London 2012,” Sinclair told Seven, powered by Ladbrokes. “Obviously there was talk about other clubs as well, but not a lot materialised, really. Even Liverpool came in for me at the time, and so that was another discussion I had with my agent. Looking back, maybe that would have been a better move for me, with their wide players.”
“But yeah, Man City come in and I couldn’t really say no. Things didn’t work out as well as I’d have liked them to, because I’d have loved more of an opportunity there, but there were just so many players around the place. I think I started against Arsenal and Stoke and that was it for me. I made a handful of appearances but opportunities were limited.”
Sinclair added: “I think that coming from Swansea, playing every single week, scoring a hat-trick in the play-off final, and then having a year in the Premier League and scoring eight from out wide before I made my move, I was in such a good place. And then the City move just sort of stops things, and puts everything on hold, then I’ve got to rebuild again. The first six months were great, because it was all new, and I was playing for a top team, being involved in the Champions League, but then on the other hand I wasn’t playing much, and that was frustrating.”
Liverpool's wide options
Oussama Assaidi joined Liverpool in a £2.4m switch from Heerenveen in the summer of 2012 and was the Reds’ only new arrival out wide in Rodgers’ first transfer window. However, the Moroccan would flop at Anfield and be limited to just four Premier League appearances before being sent on loan to Stoke City.
Stewart Downing was Rodgers’ only senior winger following his arrival. But with the England international initially falling out of favour under his new manager, the Liverpool boss instead predominantly turned to youngsters Raheem Sterling and Suso out wide or played Fabio Borini, Jonjo Shelvey or Jose Enrique out of position during the first half of the season prior to the arrivals of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho in January.
Having flopped at Manchester City, Sinclair only rediscovered his best form four years after his move to the Etihad when joining Celtic in the summer of 2016 and reuniting with Rodgers.
