{"id":292505,"date":"2023-10-21T07:09:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T07:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=292505"},"modified":"2023-10-21T07:09:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T07:09:29","slug":"burnley-came-in-and-tried-to-sign-me-but-at-the-time-id-never-heard-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/burnley-came-in-and-tried-to-sign-me-but-at-the-time-id-never-heard-of-them\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Burnley came in and tried to sign me \u2013 but at the time I’d never heard of them’"},"content":{"rendered":"
  • Bookmark<\/span><\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n

    <\/p>\n

    For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter<\/p>\n

    Thank you for subscribing!<\/h2>\n

    For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter<\/p>\n

    We have more newsletters<\/p>\n

    Leroy Lita has revealed Burnley once tried to sign him – admitting he'd didn't have a clue they existed.<\/p>\n

    Journeyman striker Lita, 38, is best known for his four-year spell at Reading. After arriving at the Madejski Stadium in 2005, his goals helped fire the Royals to the Premier League, setting a new Championship points record of 106 in the process.<\/p>\n

    Appearing on the Under The Cosh podcast recently, Lita explained they weren't the only second-tier side interested in signing him from then-League One Bristol City as a 20-year-old. "Burnley came in," he said.<\/p>\n

    READ MORE: 'I was on trial at Chelsea for a year \u2013 I kept turning up and they didn't say anything'<\/b><\/p>\n

    READ MORE: 'I went to shake Chris Wilder's hand \u2013 he grabbed my nipple so hard I yelped like a cat'<\/b><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight<\/span> dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the <\/span>only way to watch all the action this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a322 a month<\/p>\n

    "[They were] Championship, same league. I\u2019d never heard of Burnley," Lita honestly confessed, sparking laughter from hosts Jon Parkin, Chris Brown and Chris Brown before adding: "I was like \u2018where\u2019s that?'."<\/p>\n

    Lita went on to also speak out about the attempts from the Robins to keep him in Bristol. He'd just scored 29 goals in a season for them and had earned his England under-21 debut.<\/p>\n

    Do you have an embarrassing football admission to make? Let us know in the <\/b>comments section.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    "They called me into a meeting to this fancy hotel, I think the chairman owned it, something like that," he continuted.<\/p>\n

    "They're sitting there, they're writing numbers to me, 'that's decent innit', compared to what I was on. He's writing more numbers, I was dead cool sat there, 'yeah man I'll just have to speak to my agent'. <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    "I've walked and gone 'could've got this, could've got that, just sign da ting'. My agent was very good, he was advising me. He said don't sign nothing. <\/p>\n

    "I think they were a bit shocked because I didn't jump off my seat, nothing like that, but in my head I was thinking all sorts. <\/p>\n

    "I walked out and called my agent, 'you know what they just wrote down on a piece of paper'. He said 'relax, you'll get more than that when you move'. And he was right. Got a lot more than that."<\/p>\n