Newcastle signing whose 'mind was made up' insists he 'had to' make Liverpool switch

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Didi Hamann admits he would have preferred a longer stint at Newcastle but felt that joining Liverpool was an unmissable opportunity. Two of Hamann's former sides, Newcastle and Manchester City , are set to clash in a pivotal midweek encounter.

The ex-midfielder is likely to be amongst numerous ex- Premier League stars watching the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg. He made the switch from the Bundesliga to English football in 1998 following his appearance at the World Cup in France.

Hamann signed an initial five-year contract with the Tyneside club in a £5.5million move from Bayern Munich after rejecting Real Madrid to head to England. In a 2023 interview with FourFourTwo , the German revealed his choice was straightforward due to Sir Kenny Dalglish's eagerness to secure his signature.

He said: "We had many excellent players at Bayern, but we never gelled as a team. I always felt that, in order to fulfil my potential, I needed to leave.

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"After the 1998 World Cup in France, Real Madrid were interested, but the keenest approach was Newcastle with Kenny Dalglish in charge. My mind was made up straight away, and I enjoyed it.

"Sometimes it wasn't as professional as Bayern, like their training ground and things, but I found a team with plenty of spirit. It was a disappointing year, however. We reached the FA Cup final, but didn't do as well as expected in the Premier League [finishing 13th]."

However, Hamann's time at Newcastle lasted just 12 months before he made the switch to Liverpool. He featured 31 times for the Magpies, scoring five times and providing four assists before his 1999 move to Merseyside.

At Anfield, the midfielder made 283 appearances in a Liverpool shirt, scoring 11 goals and winning numerous trophies - most notably the 2005 Champions League . Hamann achieved legendary status at Anfield, though he's confessed he would have preferred a longer spell at Newcastle.

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Speaking on That Peter Crouch Podcast , he said: "It was great [at Newcastle]. Bit short, I would have liked to stay a bit longer. I signed for a longer time but when Liverpool came calling it was hard to turn it down.

"It's never a nice thing to leave clubs and tell the club and the fans that you are off after one season, but I liked it because the people loved the football up there, great sense of humour. It was brilliant. I really enjoyed it but when I had the chance to go to Liverpool I saw it as an opportunity I had to take."

During that period, Newcastle's dressing room was in turmoil following Dalglish's departure and Ruud Gullit's appointment as manager. Hamann made clear that Gullit wasn't behind his decision to leave as he said: "Nah, it wasn't that. I got injured in one of my first games for the club against Liverpool under Ruud, his first match.

"We lost 4-1 and Michael Owen got a hat-trick. I was out with a medial ligament injury in my knee. I was out for nine weeks. At the time we had Gary Speed, Rob Lee, Nobby Solano all battling.

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"When I came back in November didn't get straight back in the team. I spoke to Ruud and said, 'What [are] we going to do if I'm not playing, it's no good to anyone.'

"So they said to me, 'If you find a club where we get our money back in the summer then we have a solution.' Then I started scoring a few goals during the spring and had a good end to the season.

"That gave me the chance to go to Liverpool. It was an opportunity I liked to take up. These things never feel good because I had a great time and the way they welcomed me at Newcastle was second to none. At the same time, we had good players, but we weren't the best team we could have been."

Following a seven-year stint with Liverpool, Hamann appeared destined for Bolton Wanderers in summer 2006. Yet, after barely 24 hours as a Bolton player, the German struck a deal with City instead and went on to rack up 71 appearances in Manchester.

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