ITAL ALL WORK OUT FOR EVAN..I COULD HAVE GONE: JASON

JASON MCATEER has hailed Evan Ferguson's switch to Roma - and revealed that he was once so close to a big Serie A move of his own that he spent four months learning Italian.

- BY MARK McCADDEN

The Ireland legend (below) was at his childhood team Liverpool at the time, when a call came in from Italy.

Serie A giants Sampdoria were tracking the Boys in Green star and were all set to swoop at the end of the 1997/98 campaign.

Then, disaster struck. A broken leg against Blackburn Rovers in January 1998 put an end to their interest, and McAteer stayed at Anfield until the following January, when he moved to Ewood Park.

“The Italian league was really fashionable,” McAteer recalled. “I got a phone call from an agent in Italy asking me if I wanted to go to Sampdoria. I kind of was flattered. Put it this way, I started learning Italian.