Alex McCarthy Reveals He Rejected Liverpool for Queens Park Rangers

Alex McCarthy has revealed he spurned a chance to sign for Liverpool before joining Queens Park Rangers from Reading earlier this summer.

The 24-year-old played under Brendan Rodgers while the Northern Irishman was in charge of the Championship club in 2009.

The Liverpool manager was keen on reuniting with his former player at Anfield and was interested in bringing the stopper to Merseyside in the summer transfer window.

McCarthy revealed he held talks with both Rodgers and Harry Redknapp before leaving Reading. However, it was the former Tottenham Hotspur manager who convinced him to join QPR.

"I spoke to both managers and everything the gaffer here said to me I liked, and that's why I'm here now. Harry was a big part of me coming here. The things he said to me swayed my decision," McCarthy is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

"I don't regret the decision I have made up to now. Coming to a new club you want to get your first game under your belt and I'm over the moon to get that first game out of the way."

"The main focus for me now is to keep training hard week in, week out and give the manager a decision to make," he added.

QPR's first choice keeper Rob Green was suffering from illness for the Liverpool clash, which saw Redknapp hand McCarthy his QPR debut during a 3-2 defeat to the Reds. The Hoops take on Aston Villa in the Premier League clash on Monday and Green could start against Villa.

The former Reading keeper is aware of the competition at QPR. Despite the situation at Loftus Road, McCarthy says his aim is to play regular football in order to make it to the England team.

"I don't know whether I'm playing or not. Me and Greeny [Green] have a really good relationship. We respect each other and we train hard and push each other as hard as possible. Whoever is playing, we support each other," the QPR keeper said.

"You want to play for your country, which would be an amazing feeling and achievement. But my main goal is to keep playing week in, week out here and England call-ups will hopefully come along," McCarthy concluded.