Former United States striker Taylor Twellman has confirmed that a move to Preston North End was blocked during his playing days.
In the pantheon of Preston transfer sagas, Twellman’s arguably stands tall above most others.
Cast your minds back to the 2007-08 campaign. Paul Simpson has been sacked, Alan Irvine is in and Preston are battling against relegation.
Come January, North End brought in the likes of Richard Chaplow, Chris Brown and Michael Hart to bolster the fight against the drop.
Irvine wanted another striker though, and Twellman was picked out as the ambitious target to come in and save North End.
Twellman was coming off a 20-goal season with New England Revolution. When Preston made their bid, Twellman’s total record with the Revs was 98 goals in 169 games.
Unsurprisingly, fans felt that Twellman would have marked a significant capture given that goal return.
Derek Shaw confirmed a huge $3million bid, which was around £1.5million at the time.
The offer was rejected as Major League Soccer refused to sell Twellman, even though the striker wanted to leave.
Twellman’s name still comes up in conversations with Preston fans. That transfer saga lives long in the memory – even though Twellman played just 21 senior games after his failed move, due to injuries.
Twellman, now a pundit in America, has been speaking about Preston’s bid.
Speaking to the MLS UK Show, Twellman has indicated that he was desperate to play in England.
However, New England Revolution boss Steve Nicol and assistant Paul Mariner – formerly of Chorley – were adamant that he wasn’t leaving.
Twellman claims Newcastle were battling Preston for his signature once a work permit was possible.
Twellman was so convinced that the offer would be accepted that he had two houses picked out and had packed his bags for a move to Preston – but was left gutted when the bid was rejected.
“I was already looking for real estate,” said Twellman. “I had always wanted to play in England, I felt like my game fit the style in England whether it was low-level Premier League, high-level Championship, whatever it may be. I never really wanted to go to a place where I was going to sit, but I couldn’t get a work permit.”
“I needed to play 75% of competitive games in a national team year. In 2006, when I was the last player cut from the World Cup team, that stopped me from making that move. If I would have gone to the World Cup, then I would have to the work permit because I would have appealed it, I didn’t. In 2007, Bob Bradley said ‘I know you’re trying to get over there, you’re gonna get your shot’, so I played 75%.”
“The day I played the game that guaranteed it, I had two phone calls. My agent called and said ‘Newcastle are very interested, and Preston North End’. Paul Mariner was my assistant coach and Steve Nicol was my head coach. I went to Stevie and Paul, and they were like ‘you’re not leaving’, I’m like ‘just listen’, so we had a conversation and I knew they weren’t gonna like it.”
“The offer needed to be somewhere behind Clint Dempsey and more than Tim Howard. Preston North End came in right away and said ‘here’s $3million’, and at the time in 2007, that was the second-largest transfer for an American ever out of MLS.”
“I was honestly stunned they didn’t take it. I had two houses picked out already, my bags were packed and ready to go because I just didn’t think they were going to say no to that number,” he added.