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After West Ham United had sold Rio Ferdinand to Leeds upon the turn of the Century, Harry Redknapp would later turn his attention to a young South African centre-back by the name of Matthew Booth.
Unfortunately for the 6ft 6ins giant, Booth would never get the chance to step into Rio Ferdinand’s sizeable shoes at Upton Park.
In fact, the closest the former West Ham United target came to making a name for himself on English shores was an extremely forgettable loan spell at Wimbledon in 2001.
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Speaking only a few days after former Nigeria international Brown Ideye explained why he chose West Brom over the Hammers in 2014, another African export opens up on his own footballing journey.
A journey which could have taken him to East London, only for the map-makers to have very different ideas.
Harry Redknapp wanted Matthew Booth at West Ham United
A baby-faced Rio Ferdinand reluctantly left West Ham for Leeds for a then world-record fee of £18 million.
Speaking on the Lorenz Kohler and 10Bet South Africa YouTube channel, Booth reveals that Harry Redknapp was keen to take a punt on the then-Mamelodi Sundowns youngster, even if he was yet to earn the first of his 37 South Africa caps at that point of his career.
Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images
“We had just come off a fairly successful Olympics [Booth had captained his country in Sydney]. I’d gone to West Ham for a trial, which was probably the closest I got to joining an EPL club,” he says.
“[West Ham] were very keen on me under Harry Redknapp.
“They were about to sell Rio Ferdinand to Leeds, so they needed a centre-back. Harry was apparently keen.
“Sundowns unfortunately asked for £1.5 million for a player who hadn’t played for Bafana [the national team]! It was too much, it was a ridiculous amount. So that was a great big disappointment for me, that [Sundowns managing director] Natasha Tsichlas was not more reasonable.
“After all, they had got me for free!
“[West Ham’s interest] fell away and then, as my contract came to an end, they realised they needed to cash in.”
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Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images Booth had a miserable time with Wimbledon
Booth later joined Wimbledon on a loan deal, shortly after the Dons had slipped out of the Premier League. As the now-46-year-old explains, though, it became clear pretty quickly that he was not in manager Terry Booth’s plans.
“This Wimbledon deal came up, but that didn’t work either,” Booth adds.
“Wimbledon at that stage was owned by a South African family who were quite close with the Krok brothers, who owned Mamelodi Sundowns. So, that was the connection.
“But a lesson I learned there was that you’ve got to make sure that the manager wants you. And that wasn’t the case. I realised that as soon as I landed. I was of course very excited to go, but it didn’t work out.
“I played for the reserves for three months and then made my way back to South Africa with my tail between my legs. [Booth] never had a conversation with me.”
Booth would go on to represent Rostov and Kyrilia Sovetov in Russia before returning to South Africa, winning the Player of the Year award at Ajax Cape Town in 2013.
Ferdinand, meanwhile, became one of the finest and most decorated centre-halves of his generation at Manchester United; a Champions League and multi-Premier League winner.
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