Former Leeds United manager Peter Reid has confirmed Harry Kewell rejected offers from Manchester United and Barcelona before deciding to join Liverpool in 2003.

Kewell made his first-team debut for the Yorkshire club in 1996 as a 17-year-old. He cemented his starting place over the next two seasons, and in the 1999/2000 campaign, would announce himself to the world after notching 10 goals and 13 assists in the Premier League. At the end of the season, the Australian was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award and named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Despite an improbable Champions League semi-finals berth in 2001, Leeds plummeted into debt and top players such as Jonathan Woodgate and Rio Ferdinand were sold as a result.

After Terry Venables was fired in March 2003, Reid was tasked with keeping Leeds in the Premier League, which he did so successfully by notching huge wins over Charlton and Arsenal, the latter of which ended the Gunners chances of winning the title.

Unfortunately for Reid, he was forced to sell his best attacker, Kewell, and he was subsequently sacked in November after a poor start to the season.

Kewell, who was 24 at the time, was wanted by a host of clubs across Europe, and as confirmed by Reid, United and Barca were two of those clubs vying for his signature.

Speaking exclusively with Tribalfootball, the former Manchester City and Sunderland boss spoke of why Kewell made the decision to join the Reds.

"[Liverpool] was his boyhood club, even though Manchester United and Barcelona were after him [when he was] at Leeds United," said Reid.

Coincidentally, Reid added that he had recently bumped into Kewell, now manager at Crawley Town, when Wigan - who Reid has been helping on a voluntary basis - came up against the south coast club in the FA Cup at the start of November.

"Funny enough I was speaking to Harry [when I was with Wigan] when he was with Crawley and I had a good chat with him after the game," recalls Reid.

"It was great catching up with him, he looks great and his team weren't bad. But he was saying to me, 'I can't find a goal scorer', and I said, 'Harry, welcome to football management!' and he loved it. He was certainly an outstanding footballer and a good lad."

Kewell has had far more serious problems recently. On Saturday, he was accused of getting into an altercation with a section of the Crawley fan base after their 4-0 loss to Wycombe Wanderers.

After the heavy defeat, Kewell approached the fans, who had been abusive during the encounter. The former Australia international was reportedly restrained by his own players and security.

Kewell has since released a statement refuting that he needed to held back at any stage.

It read: "Let me start by saying, in my 20-plus year professional football career I have never lost control when it comes to fans.

"After our devastating loss to Wycombe yesterday I have been advised of some exaggerated comments on social media and news channels. I now want to set the record straight.

"Whilst I did approach a disgruntled fan at full time, it was merely to hear his concerns. At no time did anyone need to hold me back.

Having won just 4 out of their 18 appearances this season, Crawley are currently 21st on the League One table.

Peter Reid has a new book out titled: Cheer Up Peter Reid: My Autobiography - you can purchase it by clicking on the link here.