Blackburn Rovers news: Brad Friedel opens up on decision to snub European Cup winners after Liverpool exit

Brad Friedel is a Blackburn Rovers legend, with the keeper being inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2019 with seven other Ewood Park favourites.

However, fans may never have got to see the American dawn the keeper jersey of the historic club had he opted to join a European giant who was interested in his services as he was making his exit from Liverpool in the summer of 2000.

Friedel would join the club when they were battling in the second tier of English football, so it may have appeared to be a strange decision to join the Lancashire side at the time from one of the most historic teams in England.

This is particularly intriguing when you take into account that Friedel grew up a Liverpool fan, with it being a decision he took only to start getting first-team action after he struggled for minutes in his final season at Anfield.

Brad Friedel on why he chose to join Blackburn Rovers over Benfica

The Ewood Park favourite made the decision to join the 1995 Premier League winners despite the club being in the second tier at the time and with an offer from two-time European Cup winners Benfica.

Friedel explained to Sports Mole exclusively through ToonieBet that Liverpool were keener on the deal with Blackburn Rovers at the time, with the keeper believing the key to his decision being that his former Galatasaray manager, Graeme Souness, was in charge of Rovers.

Friedel said: “I had other Premier League clubs that were interested in me, and Liverpool were blocking the moves to other Premier League clubs. So, it came down to them agreeing to either Benfica or Blackburn.

"They were weary because they had some financial trouble, so they were worried about the transfer fee payment coming in.

"Graeme came in, and he was the one at the time that sealed the deal for me, because it wasn't normal back then for someone my age, going from Liverpool into the Championship, but Blackburn wasn't a normal championship club. Back then they just won the Premier League and were really uncharacteristically relegated.

"We always had top players back then. And there were quite a few, and what Graeme did was really smart. Basically, if you think about it, all the players that he brought in were Premier League players and mainly from clubs like Liverpool and Man United, like Craig Short from Everton.”

Brad Friedel’s career at Blackburn Rovers

The former American international spent eight seasons at the Lancashire club, becoming vital to the side during his time at Ewood Park.

Friedel was part of the last Blackburn side to win major domestic silverware, when Souness guided the club to the EFL Cup in 2002, beating Tottenham Hotspur in the final.

The 54-year-old was incredibly happy at the club, extending his contract in September 2005, April 2007 and February 2008, but he left in the summer of the latter year to join Aston Villa.

During Friedel's time at the club, he would have Souness and Mark Hughes as his managers, qualifying for European competition on three separate occasions.

It was a period of relative domestic success for the club following the up-and-down nature of their performances in the late 1990s after the high of lifting the Premier League in 1995, with Friedel proving to be key for them at the start of the 21st century.