Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy concedes he was too young when he first trialled at Liverpool as a 16 year-old.

McCarthy faces Liverpool tonight as an established first teamer with Wigan.

He told the People: "I was too young, just 16 at the time.

"I went down to train for week and really enjoyed it. I played for my team, Hamilton Accies, on the Saturday and Liverpool asked me back to play in a closed-door game. It was brilliant - Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt were playing. Everything about it was great. I played for the reserves in the first half and they switched me to the big team in the second half.

"I scored a goal ... it just sat up for me at the edge of the box and I hit it into the top corner past Jerzy Dudek. But it wasn't for me at the time. If I had gone to Liverpool I would have been stuck in the reserves and not playing much. Playing first-team football was my main aim - that was my dream.

"Some of my mates wound me up and said I should go, but I was happy with my decision. I was also settled at home and didn't want to leave my mum and dad. I had just left school and it would have been hard to leave home. I thought the best thing for me was to get my head down and just keep on playing, and that's worked out.

"I am delighted with the way things have gone. I played over 100 games for Hamilton and then I got this move. It couldn't be better. Now I'm going to be competing against the likes of Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun - two players I really look up to - so I know I made the right move."