Everton's summer signing James McCarthy has revealed that he turned down the chance to join their fierce Merseyside rivals Liverpool as a teenager.
The 22-year-old joined the Toffees for £13m on transfer deadline day to help fill the void created by Marouane Fellaini's departure to Manchester United.
However, McCarthy has said how things could have been very different, as he was offered a contract at Anfield, but instead opted to stay at his boyhood club Hamilton Academical in order to play first-team football.
"I had a week's trial at Liverpool when I was still young, only 16, but I was happy to stay at home to be honest," McCarthy told a press conference. "I wanted to stay at Hamilton and get some first team games. I'm thankful I did because it worked out really well.
"The way it's gone, I'm really happy with how my career has developed. Liverpool were going to sign me, they wanted to try and do a deal, but at the time it wasn't right for me. I was still young.
"Liverpool were fine about it when I didn't sign. It was just one of those things when I didn't want to move away. Rafa [Benitez] was there at the time. I didn't speak to him but my agent did and they understood I wanted to learn my trade back."
McCarthy made his Everton debut off the bench in their 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday.
