Former Leeds United midfielder Simon Walton recently joined the panel on the Talking Shutt podcast to discuss his time with the Whites.
The 33-year-old Havant & Waterlooville midfielder, among other things, spoke of the interest in him from a number of other high-profile clubs prior to his departure from Elland Road. Walton was part of the first-team set up at Leeds between 2004 and 2006, making 37 appearances and contributing 3 goals (as per Transfermarkt).
He revealed three Premier League clubs had expressed an interest in his services prior to leaving Yorkshire for Charlton Athletic in 2006, here is what he had to say:
“The first summer after I’d played and done well, there was Liverpool, Everton [and] Tottenham [interested in me].
“There were a few [clubs] that I could have gone [to] in the first season. My advisers at the time didn’t think it was right, I didn’t want to go anywhere, so they kind of got rebuffed.
“The club said, ‘look, it is up to you, these are unbelievable opportunities, what do you want to do?’ [but] we didn’t want to leave, we [were] happy where we [were].”
Were you surprised to learn of the interest in Simon Walton?
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TIF Thoughts on Simon Walton’s comments regarding the Premier League interest in him…
It appears, after the 2004/05 season, Leeds United’s first in the second tier having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the season prior, the midfielder had attracted the interest of some of England’s biggest football clubs, most notably the current champions Liverpool.
During the aforementioned season, Walton made as many as 30 appearances in the Championship, therefore it’s fair to say he was a regular fixture in the side and so it may be understandable as to why a number of other clubs were keeping tabs on the centre-midfield man.