Liverpool hero got Anfield move after manager urged him to go – 'It’s the club for you'

Liverpool legend John Barnes has revealed that it was the late Graham Taylor who told him to make his big move to Anfield at the age of 23. The legendary former Watford boss confessed that it was the right time for the England star to leave and told Barnes that the Reds were a perfect fit.

Barnes joined Liverpool in 1987 after a six-year stint with Watford, who he joined at 17 after moving to England from Jamaica with his family as a child. After breaking into the Watford team and making his England debut in 1983, Barnes felt that his late teens might have been the right time to step up.

However, Taylor advised him to wait. The winger spent four more years at Vicarage Road before the Taylor finally admitted that Barnes was ready to leave the club, aged 23.

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"You don't just go to a big club because you're doing well when you are 18 or 19," Barnes said on The Rest Is Football podcast. "So, of course, when Luther [Blissett] went to AC Milan when I was 20, I'm saying 'I scored the goal against Brazil, I'm playing really well.'

"But, Graham Taylor said you have to have a level of consistency over a period of time before you're ready to go [to a big club]. 23 years old, Liverpool came calling, he said to me now is your time to go, and Liverpool is the club for you.

"So, he told me to go to Liverpool, because he felt a responsibility to his players. As much as he’s Watford’s manager, he felt a responsibility. He said to me this is the right club for you."

Barnes became a Liverpool icon, winning two league titles and FA Cups apiece during his decade with the club. Although moving earlier would have seen him win more major honours, Barnes has confessed that signing as a youngster may have harmed his career.

"I would have hated to have gone to Liverpool at 18 years old, 17 years old," Barnes explained. "You would have gone into that culture, and as a young boy, you know, with peer pressure, and that sort of character building you could call bullying you have to go out and have a drink.

"So, because I went at 23 when I was a man, and an international for five, six years, I knew when to and when not to. I would've hated to have gone to Liverpool as a young boy because of the culture back then - the drinking culture - and many players have succumbed to that.

"Six years playing at the highest level, four for England, that experience of being a regular player in the top flight, playing for England, playing with some of those Liverpool players for England and internationally, so I had that respect," he continued.

"Whereas, I suppose if you go as a young player, you need to earn that respect, and how you get that respect is to try and fit in with what everyone else is doing. So, I was fortunate in that way."