When a new manager comes to a football club, their first transfer window is often a sign of things to come. For Brendan Rodgers, his decision to bring Joe Allen to the club typifies that view.
On this day in 2012, the Reds completed the signing of Allen in a £15m from with Swansea City. Having just left the Welsh club a couple of months earlier himself, the new Liverpool manager was fully aware of the player he was getting.
"I'm absolutely delighted that Joe has made the decision to come with us on this journey," Rodgers said at the time.
READ MORE: Liverpool have 'long-term' transfer target but he may no longer be the answer for Jurgen Klopp
"Joe is a player whose profile will fit perfectly with the ideas of this group. His ability to control and dominate the ball is an important ingredient in our attempt to gain success on the field. Joe has had a fantastic education at Swansea City and will now begin the next chapter in his exciting career."
Allen himself was also understandably delighted. He had joined the likes of Fabio Borini, Nuri Sahin, Oussama Assaidi and Samed Yesil in moving to Anfield that summer.
He had progressed through the youth ranks at Swansea and, aside from a loan spell at Wrexham, this was his first time moving away permanently from his boyhood club. It was a big decision for the then-22-year-old, but one he was up to dealing with.
"I feel incredible. Everyone knows the history of this club, it's a massive club, and I'm delighted to have joined," Allen told the club's website in 2012.
"The passion that people here have for football is something I share and I want to be part of that. I'm looking forward to being part of some great years ahead for Liverpool."
What any new player wants when they arrive at a football club is confidence from the manager. Allen certainly had that from Rodgers. However, it could be argued that it went a bit overboard.
The infamous ‘Being Liverpool’ documentary was released in the autumn of 2012 and featured a moment which Allen would likely want to forget. When introducing his latest signing, Rodgers put his arm around Allen and handed him what would go on to be an unwanted nickname.
“This is the Welsh Xavi. For me, Joe is a unique player,” Rodgers told the cameras in the documentary. "He’s a British player who is hungry for the ball. He’s embarrassed if he loses the ball. He’s 5ft 6in or 5ft 7in but in terms of football talent he’s 6ft 7in.”
This, as it turned out, was a tag that Allen did not want one bit. Years later, the Wales international would go on to admit that the nickname from Rodgers did not help him in his career.
“There’s been a few floating around, there’s an obvious one I’m not saying," said Allen in an interview with with ECHO in the summer 2016. “(The Welsh Pirlo is) a dangerous one. I had the Welsh Xavi tag for a while and that didn’t really do me too many favours, so I’m trying to steer myself away from the new one too.”
As Allen’s Liverpool career rolled by, he gradually started adopting a new look. Going from a classic short-back-and-sides do to his iconic shoulder length hair and beard, this led to a rather unusual story appearing on social media.
In April 2016, a story emerged of Allen’s face apparently appearing on a chicken nugget. Yes, you read that right.
Many Liverpool fans were convinced this was the case. What made the story more convincing was the midfielder appearing in a magazine called “Chicken & Egg” just a month earlier.
In an interview with that magazine he spoke about having 14 chickens at home. He explained how his wife, Lacey, was a key reason behind having the animals.
“Lacey was behind the decision,” Allen said . “We both have an interest in animal welfare but she came up with the idea to save hens and I agreed it was something that would be great to do. “We didn’t have any hens growing up but wanted to help chickens after they finished their commercial lives ’d be lying if I said I did the cleaning… as soon as it’s time to clean the coops I disappear! Unlucky Lacey!”
Back to the football, and even though a new era dawned at Liverpool with Jurgen Klopp, a change was in the offing for Allen. His form dramatically improved after the German’s arrival, with three goals and three assists.
He would leave the Reds for Stoke City in July 2016, but he expressed his desire to leave Anfield months earlier. In the January of that year, Allen informed Klopp of his wish to quit Merseyside, and went on to reveal what the Reds boss told him in response.
“We got to January [2016], I started one league game in December and had done 10 league games in a row as an unused sub. I think it was fair to say the writing was on the wall,” Allen told The Longman’s Football World podcast in 2018.
“We got to January, I spoke to Klopp and probably about 10 days before the end of the transfer window said I wanted to leave, I probably went a bit early with it because it wasn’t as if I had options. I just wanted to let him know, could we sort this out.
“Then I remember, it was a time of a lot of soul searching and anyway I looked at it – potential moves, who might be interested and who definitely won’t be – and I remember writing an email or a letter to my agent explaining that ‘I keep coming back to Swansea, that’s all I really want. I want to go home and I want to play for them. If they want me can we try and make it happen?’
“Klopp had said, ‘if we can get someone in then you can go’. That was pretty straightforward, but he did say. ‘we don’t have anyone lined up, so if we don’t [sign a replacement] you are staying’.”
Liverpool ended up bringing Gini Wijnaldum to the club in the summer of 2016, and so Allen was allowed to leave. A move to Stoke followed, and even though he sanctioned the exit it was not a deal that pleased Klopp completely.
Months later, Klopp explained how he and the rest of Liverpool missed Allen. Even though the German had only been at the club for a few months, and had rarely started Allen, he was still quick to make sure everyone knew how highly he rated the Welshman.
“Do we miss Joe Allen? Yes. He’s a nice guy, unbelievably strong player,” Klopp said in December 2016. “But it was a kind of joint decision. We had a clear conversation and it was about what I could kind of guarantee.
“It wasn’t that he asked me how many games he would start but for the past one or two years he hadn’t been a fixed line up player. Sometimes injuries were the reason.
“We all knew about his quality. When you see him playing now it’s a bit like (gulp). We’re really happy for him that he scores so many goals and has a big impact on games at Stoke. That’s how it is in life, you can’t have everything. It’s about having one option more or not,
“He plays a little bit more offensive now than he would have played for us, but this should always be like this. If Liverpool sell a player they need to have a real impact at their next club. It’s not that we are the last club they can perform at. If you leave us okay, show us what you have learned - that you’re an outstanding player and Joe Allen for sure is an outstanding player. We need to have a look at him.”
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