Graeme Souness reveals he turned down Barcelona for Sampdoria after 1984 European Cup win
Liverpool icon says Barcelona deal was rejected for Italy move
Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has revealed he rejected the chance to sign for Barcelona when he left the European champions in 1984.
The Scotland midfielder joined Italian club Sampdoria for £650,000 just weeks after lifting Liverpool’s fourth European Cup against Roma. Souness was one of the world’s finest midfielders at the time — he finished sixth in that year’s Ballon d’Or — making the switch to Genoa rather than a European heavyweight a surprise.
"I had to leave Liverpool because my wife at the time was about to inherit money and she had to spend three years out of the country," Souness told BBC Scotland’s The Saturday Show. "I could have got around it somehow, but I decided to go because at that time Italy was the place to go. All the best players in the world were going there."
He added: "I got offered a two-year deal at Barcelona, which I turned down because I needed three and, even because of my age, go to the third year."
"There were a couple of other clubs in Italy interested, but Sampdoria had been bought by Paolo Mantovani and he was building a young team so wanted an experienced player. That’s how I ended up there."
Barcelona without Maradona, Sampdoria success
The rejection came as Barcelona had just appointed Terry Venables as manager and allowed Diego Maradona to leave for Napoli. Souness won an Italian Cup in two seasons at Sampdoria before joining Rangers as player-manager in 1986.
He revolutionised the Ibrox club in a trophy-laden five-year spell in charge and has advised the club on managerial appointments in recent years.
On management today and Rangers’ Old Firm edge
Souness said he would never become Rangers manager again — in the same way as Martin O’Neill has returned to Celtic — because his abrasive style would not work with today’s players.
"No, Martin’s a very different personality to me. He’s a nice guy," added the 73-year-old. "I started in management at 33 and football was a very different workplace then. My style of management, maybe my style of telling people too readily what they don’t want to hear, it wouldn’t work today. Football certainly needs a bit of that, but would it accept it? I doubt it."
Speaking about his new book ‘My Rangers: How I changed Scottish football for ever’, released this week, Souness believes his old club have the psychological edge over Celtic following two September victories by Derek McInnes’ side.
Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 in the League Cup at Ibrox then won 1-0 at Celtic Park in the Premiership a week later and sit two points behind the champions in the table.
"They’ve now psychologically planted a seed in Celtic’s heads that they are bigger, stronger and better than them in the last two games," he said. "Celtic have left Ibrox after losing 3-0 in the first game thinking, ‘how did that happen?’ It didn’t flatter Rangers. So, seven days later, if you’re a Celtic supporter, player or on the staff you’re thinking ‘that won’t happen again’. Well, it did happen again, and on your pitch — and the 1-0 did not flatter Rangers."
Souness added: "So they’ve now got a psychological edge over Celtic, but that could be short-lived if Rangers were to lose a game against a team they’re expected to beat. They’ve given themselves a platform. They’re in a wonderful position, but they have to understand that, every team you play, it’s the opposition’s cup final. So Derek’s got to remind them of that and they’ll look like they’ve started to believe. Derek has been a player there and knows the Scottish scene. So he was well suited and a great choice. He did get off to a slow start, but in the last couple of games they’ve turned an enormous corner."