Babbel turned down Real Madrid's $1m offer to join Liverpool — then watched his Anfield career unravel

Markus Babbel chose Liverpool over Real Madrid in the summer of 2000 — turning down a $1m cash offer to do so — but the German defender has admitted he carries regret over the way his time at Anfield ultimately ended.

Babbel arrived at Liverpool on a free transfer from Bayern Munich ahead of the 2000/01 season and immediately became one of the key figures in Gerard Houllier’s side. The right-back was ever-present in the Premier League, starting all 60 of his appearances and contributing six goals and five assists as Liverpool claimed a famous treble and qualified for the Champions League.

The move, however, nearly did not happen. An agent approached Babbel with a substantial financial incentive to join Real Madrid instead. “He said: ‘Listen, tomorrow I will bring you a $1m if you’re not going somewhere else, if you sign for Real Madrid,’” Babbel recalled. “And I said: ‘Oh, thank you very much, but Real Madrid is not my club. If I go to Spain, then the only team I would sign for is Barcelona, because I am a massive Barcelona supporter.’”

The episode took an almost comic turn on the morning he drove to Merseyside to put pen to paper. “I was on the way to Liverpool to sign the new contract — 6am in the morning — and on the radio the news came: ‘Spectacular, Markus Babbel is signing for Real Madrid!’ And I was on the way to Manchester, driving over to Liverpool to sign the contract. That was a bit funny.”

Babbel went on to start Liverpool’s Charity Shield and European Super Cup victories over Manchester United and Bayern Munich in August 2001, but his career on Merseyside was about to take a devastating turn. Taken off at half-time in successive Premier League matches against West Ham United and at Bolton Wanderers, struggling for breath, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome — a serious neurological condition that left him in a wheelchair.

He battled back to fitness and returned in August 2002, but was unable to rediscover his earlier form. His relationship with Houllier deteriorated, and the situation worsened after Babbel was sent off twice while playing for the reserves. Houllier eventually confirmed publicly that the German had no future at the club.

Looking back, Babbel acknowledges the sadness of how things concluded. “Yeah, I have regrets, but this is part of my life now,” he said. “Of course, I was a bit sad because after this fantastic first season…” The treble-winning campaign of 2000/01 remains the high point of a Liverpool spell that promised so much more.