Xabi Alonso confessed he could have signed for Arsenal or Juventus when he left Liverpool in 2009 for Real Madrid.

There was a £3 million difference from Liverpool's asking price.

"[Rafa] Benítez was quite open and he showed me his cards clearly. I said to him as well, of course I need to accept this, you are the ones who make the decisions but in the end, nothing happened," said Alonso.

"I was really close to signing for Juventus and I was close to joining Arsenal, but I think Liverpool were asking for 18 million [pounds] and they both offered 15...that's why it didn't happen".

Real Madrid paid €35.4 million for Alonso.