Brendan Rodgers was Swansea City boss when current Aston Villa man Neil Taylor nearly joined Newcastle United.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers has explained the bizarre circumstances that almost led to Neil Taylor leaving Swansea City for Newcastle United back in 2011 without him even knowing, the Telegraph reports.
Rodgers’ Swans side were gearing up for their first season in the Premier League after winning the Championship play-off final against Reading, so unsurprisingly some of their squad were attracting plenty of attention.
And while outlining the perils of ignoring your phone during the transfer window, Rodgers explained how the current Villa left-back almost switched the Liberty Stadium for St James’ Park before he intervened.
“Once I nearly lost a player because I was halfway up Mount Kilimanjaro and had no signal. We got to the play-offs and we won and when I came back, Neil Taylor was nearly signing for Newcastle because they couldn’t contact me on the road to the top of Kilimanjaro – so I always make sure I have a good signal,” he said, as reported by the Telegraph.
The 28-year-old would remain on Swansea’s books until the most recent January transfer window when he was involved in a deal that saw him head to Villa while Jordan Ayew joined the South Wales outfit.
Neil Taylor, during his time with Swansea
And while Taylor’s season will unfortunately be remembered for the horrific incident involving Seamus Coleman while the pair were representing their respective countries, it is fair to say that Villa will be fairly pleased with their acquisition as the Welshman has done well with Steve Bruce’s men.
Meanwhile, with Paul Dummett proving reliable on the left-hand side of the Magpies’ defence, it appears that Newcastle were not hampered too much by missing out on the full-back.
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