Andros Townsend has revealed he broke down in tears after a move to Burnley collapsed over the summer.
The 32-year-old looked set to join Vincent Kompany’s side in the transfer window as a free agent and had agreed terms with the club after a successful trial.
The winger trained with the Clarets in the summer and featured in their pre-season games as he looked to build up fitness after missing the whole of last season with an ACL injury.
Burnley, however, pulled the offer amid concerns signing Townsend may limit the development of young summer signings Luca Koleosho, 22, and Zeki Amdouni, 19.
And Townsend admitted being told he would not join Burnley was a tough blow to take.
‘If I was bad and knew I wasn’t going to get a contract I could prepare myself,’ he told BBC Radio 5’s Monday Night Club.
‘But to be looking at houses, looking at schools, talking about squad numbers and then to be told the contract is no longer on offer, it rocked my world.
‘I argued my point, put my case forward.
‘That I offer something different, that I’m comfortable being a squad player and good around the squad even when not playing.’
The former Spurs and Crystal Palace player, however, admitted he understood why Kompany decided against signing him.
‘Burnley are a club that like sellable assets, so begrudgingly I understand why he [Kompany] made that decision not to block their pathway by signing a 32-year-old,’ he said.
Townsend, who remains a free agent after leaving Everton at the end of last season, added he was on the verge of signing for a Turkish club on deadline day but the move never materialised.
‘I was in Turkey the whole of deadline day,’ he explained.
‘An agent said: “100 per cent I’ve got this deal”.
‘I waited the whole of deadline day and it didn’t happen. That’s been my month, people giving me false hope.’
Links with a third division club in Saudi Arabia proved similarly fruitless.
‘A random agent said he had this club in the third division of Saudi Arabia and the president was desperate to sign me,’ Townsend said.
‘After sleeping on it I got excited about playing football again.
‘So I called him the next morning, which was Saudi deadline day, and he said he would set up a meeting.
‘I eventually got told the president was not bringing any players in and the deadline passed.’
Townsend last played Premier League football in March of last year, before being ruled out for 18 months with an ACL injury suffered while playing for Everton against Palace in the FA Cup.
He played 45 minutes for the Toffees Under 21s side in May, but left Goodison Park as his contract expired at the end of last season.
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