Liverpool cult icon says Reds massively overpaid to bring him to Anfield

Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey believes the Reds splashed out more than twice his actual value when they secured his services for a then-club record £11 million ($17.7 million) back in 2000. The frontman made over 200 appearances for Liverpool and netted 60 goals during his stint at Anfield.

After establishing himself as one of the Premier League's most promising young attacking talents at his hometown club Leicester City, Heskey – who's been vocal about Liverpool's transfer business – had attracted attention from elite clubs before his much-anticipated move to Merseyside a quarter of a century ago.

Plenty of eyebrows were raised regarding the then-club record fee paid for Heskey given his lack of experience, and whilst his Liverpool career was certainly not a letdown, the price tag remained a burden and he struggled with being away from home.

Now, Heskey genuinely believes that his former club overspent by 120 percent when they brought him in from the Foxes.

"The fascinating thing with the actual fee and stuff like that, we speak about this all the time. I had nothing to do with that. I couldn't change that," Heskey told the 'Beast Mode On' podcast when asked about his Reds switch.

"I'll give you an honest opinion on the fee, my honest opinion, I thought I was worth about £5M ($8M). But I went for £11M. You know, when you look at the transfers that are going on at the time, and you put yourself in a situation and say, 'Ok, where would I put myself, what would be reasonable?'

"I said £5M. But they went £11M. It is what it is. They're not gonna get less out of me, I'm gonna give more. But that was it. I never looked at that as something that I could say, 'Oh, it is pressure.'

(Image: Daily Mirror)

"To be fair, I only started to think about it more when everyone kept on saying it. For me, it was like, 'Well, they paid that, it would be nice if I got a little bit of that, but I've got to go out and play. I've got to go out and perform.'"

Nevertheless, whilst Heskey reckons his transfer fee was doubled beyond what it ought to have been, the England international - who had already earned his debut cap in a 1999 friendly against Hungary - maintains he arrived at Anfield brimming with self-assurance despite such lofty expectations.

"I was in the national team, so I was training with all the national team players, and I was holding my own," Heskey explained. "You've got club football and then you've got national team football.

"Club football: Everyone is at it, but you can have a little bit of a laugh. National team: Everyone's looking to impress. You go from this tempo to now, your tempo's up here.

"You go from just sweating to now wringing your top. You go from having sore muscles to now having painful muscles. It's another level.

"I was never promised anything [at Liverpool], so it didn't really bother me. I was confident in myself that I would make a difference, knowing what I'd done and what I was doing at that time. So I was going into there very, very confident."

Heskey departed Liverpool in 2004 for Birmingham City, and subsequently had stints with Wigan Athletic, Aston Villa, Newcastle Jets ,and Bolton Wanderers before hanging up his boots in 2016.

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