Former Liverpool youngster Tom Ince has joined Watford for just £50k following Reading’s relegation to League One
Former Liverpool starlet Tom Ince has been granted a swift return to the Championship after joining Watford following Reading’s relegation from the English second tier.
The 31-year-old has signed a two-year contract at Vicarage Road, with the option of a third year, after joining the Hornets for an undisclosed fee.
That transfer fee is believed to cost at little as £50,000 courtesy of a shockingly-low release clause in his Reading contract following their relegation. Given the multi-millions spent in the Premier League and Championship, such a figure inevitably looks out of place.
Ince will now look to help Watford win promotion back to the Premier League following their relegation in 2022, having previously established himself as one of the deadliest forwards in the Championship.
Leaving Liverpool for Blackpool in 2011 at the end of his contract, the Reds actually failed in an attempt to re-sign him 18 months later. Meanwhile, the former England Under-21s international would memorably turn down a switch to Inter Milan when leaving Blackpool in 2014.
In truth, going on to enjoy brief stints in the Premier League with Crystal Palace, Hull City and Huddersfield Town, Ince has endured his rollercoaster since leaving Anfield behind. But while not always at his best in recent years, the chance to sign a proven Championship forward for just £50k was too good an opportunity for Watford to turn down.
If he helps the Hornets win promotion, he’ll be one of the bargains of the summer. And having previously attracted interest from both Liverpool and Inter Milan, here’s how Ince ended up being a £50k man…
Although not the busiest transfer window in Liverpool’s history, the January 2013 mid-season window remains one of the Reds’ most successful.
Brendan Rodgers brought in Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea and Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan for a combined fee of £20.5m, while also managing to offload Joe Cole to West Ham United and terminate Nuri Sahin’s loan move from Real Madrid half-a-season early. A 100% success rate, club bosses had every right to be patting themselves on the back for a job well done once the window ‘slammed’ shut.
However, Liverpool had tried and failed to complete a third signing that month too. Rodgers had attempted to bring former Reds youngster Tom Ince back to Anfield.
Son of former Liverpool captain Paul, the England Under-21s international, who made his one and only appearance for the club as a substitute against Northampton Town in the League Cup in September 2010, had joined Blackpool at the end of his Reds contract in 2011 after rejecting a new deal at Anfield. His father, who was manager of Notts County at the time and had signed the forward on loan in late-2010, described the contract offer as “derisory” and called Liverpool “silly” for refusing to let Ince re-join his club on loan if he didn’t sign a new long-term contract.
“If you are a young player waiting for a chance at a top club, what do you do?” Ince Jr later told The Telegraph about his Anfield exit. “Stay in the top facility, enjoying all the best travel, wearing all the best sports gear?
“Or do you say I am going to be brave and step away even if that means going to League One or the Championship? Harry Kane is the prime example. He went on loan, went back to Tottenham and the rest is history. Credit to him. When people saw him at Norwich or Leicester, who saw his next step?
“He backed himself and now people forget the doubts they might have had. I think more are seeing it that way. Look at Tammy Abraham and Nathaniel Chalobah. They have done the right thing for their career by leaving Chelsea.
“My dream was to play at Anfield but I could not waste time feeling my way was blocked. You have to take decisions and do what is best for your career. I did not want to leave. I was training with the first team. But I needed to go and show what I was about.
“I had been to Notts County on loan and that was the eye opener. It was League One, but it was the atmosphere and feeling of playing against grown men who are doing this because it is their life, to put food on the table.
“I was 18, playing in front of 10,000 or 15,000 who have paid to watch you. It was better than playing in front of 20 or 30 fans in a reserve game. There is no sense of reward, inspiration or even motivation if you do not have that game at 3pm on a Saturday to look forward to. I did not want to go back to that.”
Receiving a £250k compensation fee from the Tangerines following Ince’s exit, the Red also negotiated a sell-on clause which entitled them to 35% of any fee that Blackpool later received when selling the forward. Little did either club know that Liverpool would want to re-sign the player less than 18 months later.
Ince flourished at Bloomfield Road as he became one of the deadliest players in the Championship. Returning eight goals and 10 assists from 41 appearances as Blackpool lost in the 2012 play-off final, he was even better in 2012/13, to earn interest from his former club, although the Tangerines’ fortunes declined.
Finishing the campaign with a whopping 18 goals and 14 assists from 44 Championship appearances, his record stood at 13 goals and 10 assists from 23 outings by the time the January transfer window opened. Linked with a switch to the Premier League as a result, with the ECHO reporting in December 2012 that Liverpool were closing in on a £4m deal to bring the then-20-year-old back to Anfield.
Blackpool were said to value Ince at around £6m but the Reds were hopeful of a significant discount courtesy of their 35% sell-on clause. Meanwhile, as managing director Ian Ayre held talks with Chelsea over a potential swoop for Sturridge, it was claimed that a transfer for Ince was closer to being finalised in time for the window opening on January 1.
Despite only leaving Liverpool 16 months earlier, it was felt by club bosses that by re-signing Ince they would be putting right the mistake of losing him in the first place. Yet as Sturridge was confirmed as an official Reds player on January 2, there was no sign of the England Under-21s international completing his return.
Then-Blackpool boss Michael Appleton would soon confirm that the Tangerines had received a bid from Liverpool, only to reveal it had been rejected and they hadn’t heard back from the Reds since.
“He [Ince] is going through an indifferent period because of all the speculation but he is coping with it really well,” he said. “I know how difficult it can be, so he has to take credit for that and I am sure that once the speculation settles down, his performances will pick up again.
“Liverpool made an offer two weeks ago but we have not received anything since. It was a case of, ‘That’s not enough. You’ll have to do better if you want him’. Until that changes, he will stay here.”
Liverpool would end up signing Coutinho in an £8.5m deal later that month, with it suggested in some sections that the Brazilian was targeted after Blackpool had frustrated the Reds in negotiations for Ince. The Telegraph would later report that chairman Karl Oyston was not answering his phone, with The Mirror suggesting that the Tangerines were holding out for £8.5m overall as they wanted to pocket £6m themselves.
Ince would later admit his frustration at Blackpool blocking the move when speaking to The Telegraph in 2017.
“Liverpool was very close but the Blackpool chairman did not want to be out of pocket because Liverpool owned a percentage of the sell-on fee,” Ince recalled. “He made it difficult and they would not let me go.
“That was disappointing because I felt I would have been given a chance under Brendan Rodgers.”
Come the end of January, after signing Coutinho, Rodgers would admit that a move for Ince then looked unlikely.
“Ince was one where we could have made a deal but it looks like it’s a bit complicated,” he said. “I don’t think there will be any more coming in now.
“It will be difficult [to sign Ince]. It is also about affordability as well. If Tom stays at Blackpool it doesn’t mean he will never come to Liverpool but maybe in this window it looks like it will be a difficult one for us.”
It was later claimed that Rodgers was still intending to make a renewed bid for Ince that summer, with the forward admitting a January switch hadn’t been that close.
“There was something about Liverpool coming in for me in January – and to go to a top club like that would have been fantastic,” he said. “But I have to realise, it’s about playing football and I don’t think any of the moves were close.
“It’s great having that speculation and it’s very flattering. To have teams of that magnitude saying you’re a decent player, it gives me a smile and flatters me a lot.
“For me though it’s about putting my faith in Blackpool because without that club, my team-mates and the fans I wouldn’t be Football League Young Player of the Year and the player
