Jermaine Pennant has priced himself out of an incredible move to Real Madrid as his wage demands forced a £3.5million transfer to collapse last night.
Madrid were expecting to announce the unlikely signing today after agreeing a fee with Liverpool for their reserve right winger, who has started only two Barclays Premier League matches this season.
Instead Pennant, who asked for £60,000 a week — almost double what was being offered by the Spanish giants — will now have to decide whether to accept a loan offer from Wigan or Stoke.
At the JJB Stadium he would be able to play for Steve Bruce again. He will then be a free agent in the summer when he believes he can command a better salary.
Although the salary demand is not remarkable in the modern game, Madrid — who have just spent £20million on Lassana Diarra from Portsmouth — set a ceiling on their pay offer.
At 6pm last night, Sportsmail believed the deal was close to conclusion, only for it to break down two hours later when Pennant’s demands emerged. Madrid will not negotiate on their basic salary offer of £1.5m-a-year.
Liverpool and Real, who meet in the last 16 of the Champions League at the end of February, thrashed out a transfer after Real’s first-choice target, Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon, was out of their price range.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp made it clear he does not want to sell Lennon.
Former Spurs manager Juande Ramos, now in charge at Madrid until the end of the season, wants to add pace to his team and told transfer go-betweens that 25-year-old Pennant’s ability to run at defenders made him a worthwhile gamble.
While the Real boss could not guarantee a first-team place, he planned to use Pennant as an ‘impact sub’.
Still, the deal would have been a remarkable chance for Pennant to transform his career after an indifferent season in which he has fallen out of favour with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.
The winger was even pictured guzzling Jack Daniel’s whiskey from a bottle outside an Essex nightclub last month.
Pennant was offered to Stoke and Blackburn in the summer. Neither would meet his wage demands and so both deals collapsed.
Pennant’s deal at Anfield is worth around £30,000-a-week. Pennant, who has not
played for England at senior level, could not understand why a move to Madrid would benefit his career.
A friend said: ‘Why would he go there when the chances of playing in the first team are remote? He has had enough of that from his time at Anfield. He wants first-team football and the chance of a regular run in the team.’
Pennant, who started his career at Notts County, has played for Arsenal, Watford, Leeds and Birmingham in a chequered career.
He signed for Arsenal as a 15-year-old for £2million and later cost Liverpool £6.7million from Bruce’s Birmingham, where he showed glimpses of his exciting talent.
He gained notoriety in 2005 when he had to play wearing an electronic tag following a
drink-driving conviction.
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