Jermaine Pennant has revealed how Steven Gerrard tried to sign him for Liverpool - during a game!

The winger joined the Reds in a £6.7m deal from Birmingham City in the summer of 2006, and would go on to help them reach the Champions League final in his first season at the club.

In his new tell-all autobiography 'Mental: Bad Behaviour, Ugly Truths and the Beautiful Game', Pennant revealed: "One of the craziest things that have ever happened to me on a football pitch was being tapped up by Steven Gerrard in the middle of a game.

"Here was one of my heroes, the captain of Liverpool, the team I grew up supporting as a kid, the team I always wanted to play for, and Gerrard was trying to get the number of my agent during a match!

"I was in the middle of the field, near Gerrard, whom I had never even spoken to before and he said in his thick Scouse accent, 'All right lad, who's your agent?'

"I was thinking, 'What?' It was crazy. I even said to him, 'Why? Do you know him?' I added, 'Do you need his details? I'll give you his details!'

"I grew up as a Liverpool fan and it blew my mind."