Former Maidstone goalkeeper Yusuf Mersin is said to have cost Liverpool £1million. That was the speculation in the press when Mersin moved from Millwall to Anfield as a 16-year-old.
Now 28, and looking for a new club after leaving the Gallagher this summer, the big keeper will probably never know the true fee.
It was, however, a period of his life he’ll never forget and one that shaped his future, meeting his girlfriend in Liverpool, where they recently bought a house. “The papers were saying I cost £1million,” said Mersin. “It’s nice to have that, although I didn’t see any of the money. “It’s one of them where it was probably a few hundred grand and then add-ons if I made the 23s or whatever. “It’s mad looking back, thinking about it now.” Mersin was playing youth-team football for Millwall when Liverpool signed him in December 2011.
It came out of the blue for the Dartford schoolboy who had to finish his GCSEs on Merseyside. First-team manager Kenny Dalglish called Mersin’s dad to congratulate him and, out of nowhere, the teenager was at one of the biggest clubs in the world.