Joe Worrall has admitted that he was close to joining a club now ‘doing very well’ in Premier League club last summer amid links with West Ham United, Southampton and Burnley, while speaking to the BBC.
Figuring out which club Worrall was on the verge of joining depends on how you define the phrase ‘doing very well’.
Fresh from Sunday 3-2 triumph over Liverpool – a result which saw them leapfrog Jurgen Klopp’s side in the table – West Ham certainly tick that particular box.
But while Southampton are ten places and nine points below the Hammers as things stand, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints have turned a corner recently, winning three of their last four games and consigning Dean Smith to the sack with a fluid, thrilling first-half performance at St Mary’s on Friday.
Burnley, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last three and nicked a point from under the noses of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea this weekend.
The Clarets, too, are long-time admirers of Worrall, having first expressed their interest four years ago.
Which club did Joe Worrall nearly join in the summer?
“It was very close in the summer with a certain club,” explained the Nottingham Forest captain, who was linked with top-flight moves via The Sun and Hampshire Live.
“I had a Zoom meeting with the manager. We discussed monies, accepted monies.
“For me, I’m very glad it didn’t work. They’re doing very well in the Prem, but there’s just something inside me that’s happy I didn’t go.”
“The manager literally said to me ‘yeah, we’ll speak monies tomorrow, we’ll get a formal bid lodged and we really want you. The only thing we think you need to work on in your game is scoring more goals and being more defensively tactically aware.
“I was really sold and I thought it was fantastic. He said ‘do you want to leave Forest?’ and I said ‘no, but for a Premier League team and to make that step up… I want to play for England and everything so that’s the next rung on the ladder.
“I was thinking ‘right, time to pack my bags then’.
“The next day, I saw in the paper (the team) had bid for (someone else) and it’s been accepted.”
West Ham, Southampton and Burnley all signed new centre-backs after being linked with Worrall – Kurt Zouma, Lyanco and Nathan Collins respectively.
The identity of that ‘mystery’ club then remains exactly that – a mystery.
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