Former Liverpool man slams Anfield culture he had to ‘get away’ from
Newcastle and former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey says that he had to “get away” from the uncertainty of his game time at Anfield.
Shelvey signed for the Reds in the summer of 2010 from Charlton as the club transitioned amid Rafael Benitez’s exit.
The then-18-year-old arrived as a bright prospect and made 15 Premier League appearances in his debut season, playing a sporadic role.
But after going on a three-month loan spell with Blackpool, he faced further struggles for minutes.
The midfielder only played 13 league games in the 2011/12 season upon his return from Lancashire. What’s more, he made a solid start to the 2012/13 campaign before appearing as a substitute in 14 of the final 18 top-flight matches.
As such, he decided to leave in the summer of 2013, moving to Swansea. Speaking to the Studs Up podcast, the now-Magpies man opened up on his feelings about his time at Anfield.
“I wanted to go somewhere and not worry about if you have one bad game you’re still going to play, and I’d had that at Charlton,” the 29-year-old said.
“When you go to Liverpool, you play a game and someone comes back from injury and they’ve got a bigger name and they’re straight back in the team even if you’d done really well – I wanted to get away from that.”
Liverpool sold Shelvey for £5million. On his fee, the player added: “I would say I was quite cheap at the time.”
Shelvey spent two-and-a-half seasons in South Wales before moving back to England with Newcastle in 2016.
Since then, he has formed the bedrock of the team, making 159 appearances.
Shelvey could not play for Leeds
Elsewhere in the podcast, the Englishman delievered a fascinating insight into what it’s like to play Leeds United – and admitted he would not fancy playing for Marcelo Bielsa.
Their most recent win came with a 2-1 win at St James’ Park in January.
Having played in the match, Shelvey has given an amusing insight into a conversation he had mid-match with Leeds star Rodrigo Moreno.