Football
ESPN staff 8y

Stoke City's Joe Allen heard about Liverpool exit via text from friend

Joe Allen has told the Daily Telegraph he only found out Liverpool had agreed to sell him to Stoke City when he received a text message from a friend.

Allen, 26, joined Stoke for a reported £13 million last month after struggling for playing time under Jurgen Klopp.

"I actually had a text message off a friend congratulating me about making the move when I didn't even know it was happening at the time," the Wales midfielder, who joined Liverpool from Swansea City in 2012, said.

"Not knowing whether the club intend to sell you or keep you, especially when you're trying to ask the question, is disappointing.

"If I'm honest, to find out they accepted an offer through the press isn't the best way of going about business, I don't think. The communication wasn't great but as soon as Liverpool accepted an offer I knew what their intentions were for me.

"It was a bit strange but that's how things happen sometimes. There was no real goodbye, but I'm not the most sentimental person anyway. It's irrelevant now because sitting here I've got the move I wanted."

Klopp had praised Allen as "brilliant" and even told his Liverpool players before one game that he wanted them to play "Joe Allen football."

Allen, though, started only eight games in the Premier League last season and accepts that he would have had limited opportunities under the German.

"Being a regular wasn't going to happen and that's fair enough," he said. "If you look at the quality Liverpool have got in midfield, and maybe the age of the players, I think I'd have been waiting for injuries and suspensions.

"Realistically, if you've been there four years you expect more than that. I'm not going to be happy unless I'm on the pitch on a regular basis. I'm 26 now and the next four or five years are going to be my best."

He is now hoping to help Mark Hughes' Stoke side progress to the next level, saying: "I'm really excited about this move because the ambition is there to get better.

"We've finished ninth three seasons running and the aim now is to look at those places above."

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