Reds chairman: 'We didn't sign Downing based on YouTube videos'

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has said that reports suggesting the club signed Stewart Downing on the basis of a YouTube video are 'ridiculous'.

There were reports in the media this week claiming the deal for the former Aston Villa winger was pushed through after seeing clips on the internet.

Liverpool chiefs were said to have been impressed by an edited video featuring Downing slotting balls into wheelie bins from long range. The report also used quotes from a dated interview with Werner on the Merseyside club's television channel to support the story. However, Werner has dismissed the suggestion and revealed his disappointment in the report.

"It's a great story, but unfortunately for the person who wrote the piece, it isn't true," Werner told Liverpool's official website.

"It actually comes from an interview I did five months ago with [Liverpool managing director] Ian Ayre for our club TV channel in which I said that when we first talked about signing Stewart, we'd found a video of him kicking footballs into some trash cans.

"I explained in that interview back in August we knew the footage had been doctored, but I guess that detail doesn't really help stand up the story.

"The amount of people involved and the work that goes into a signing a player is huge so the suggestion that we'd buy someone on the back of one doctored video is ridiculous."

Downing moved to Anfield from Aston Villa in the summer for £20m.