Leeds United hero Jermaine Beckford makes Newcastle United and Celtic transfer admission
Jermaine Beckford has claimed he was the subject of offers from Newcastle United and Celtic during his Leeds United days.
The 41-year-old spent just over four years at Leeds, etching his name into the history books with some memorable goals.
A player with a penchant for making his mark on big occasions, he scored the goal that knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup in January 2010.
He also sent Leeds up from League One with a winner against Bristol Rovers later on in the campaign and remains strongly associated with the Whites.
However, the retired forward was at the centre of a protracted transfer saga in his final Elland Road campaign.
He found the net regularly against a backdrop of uncertainty, as his contract was due to expire in the coming summer.
Jermaine Beckford admission
Beckford even handed in a transfer request that he later withdrew and has lifted the lid on the interest shown in him.
He told popular podcast Undr The Cosh: “Yeah, there’s always going to be clubs sniffing around, isn’t there, [for] any player that’s doing well in whichever league.
“There were a couple during my time at Leeds. I’ve had offers from Benfica, from Braga, from Celtic, from Newcastle.
“I’ve had really good offers from some amazing, amazing football clubs. It might have been my final season at Leeds.
“Newcastle came in again and they said, ‘what’s Jermaine’s availability like for January?’, because my contract’s up at the end of the season. I was chasing a new contract with the club. But for one reason or another, there were literally no talks being held. And it was, it was extremely frustrating.”
Beckford eventually joined Everton ahead of the 2010/11 season, making a two-division jump to the Premier League.
He later returned to Yorkshire in September 2012, reuniting with his former Leeds boss Simon Grayson at Huddersfield Town.