---
title: "Brewitt admits he deliberately tried to hurt teammate at Liverpool"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/articles/brewitt-admits-he-deliberately-tried-to-hurt-teammate-at-liverpool/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Henry Jackson"
section: "Articles"
published: "2020-10-16T19:00:44Z"
modified: "2020-10-16T19:00:44Z"
---

# Brewitt admits he deliberately tried to hurt teammate at Liverpool

Former Liverpool defender Tom Brewitt has shockingly admitted that he once deliberately injured a teammate in training, in order to enhance his chances of playing time.

The 23-year-old [left](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/tom-brewitt/profil/spieler/258880) Anfield in the summer of 2017, having failed to make a first-team appearance for the club.

Brewitt is currently plying his trade at Irish side Dundalk, who face Arsenal in the [Europa League group stage](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/oct/02/dundalk-drawn-arsenal-europa-league-group-stage-celtic-milan-rangers-benfica-tottenham-leicester) this season.

Speaking to the [Football Journeys Podcast](https://podtail.com/en/podcast/football-journeys-podcast/s01-ep2-tom-brewitt/) on Wednesday, the defender made the shocking admission that he tried to take colleague Daniel Cleary out of action during the early days of Jurgen Klopp’s reign, as a way of playing instead of him:

> I was just desperate to play for Liverpool and that’s all I wanted to do.

> I took the decision, it was me or him, so I went after him in training. Before Christmas and the time between Christmas and New Year, I put myself next to him in possession games, I put myself next to him in games, and I just kicked him.

> I wasn’t trying to hurt him badly but I was trying to hurt him enough so he was out the way and I would play.

> It was about a week before the Exeter game and I took a bit of a heavy touch in a seven-a-side and he’s come in to tackle me.

> I waited a split second too long and absolutely topped him, went over the ball, it was a bad tackle – I knew it was a bad tackle, I did it on purpose and I’m not incredibly proud of it.

> I’m not ashamed of it, either, because in my head it was me or him and I was choosing me.

### Read Liverpool Verdict

While Brewitt deserves a smidgen of praise for being so brutally honest about his mindset at the time, he still comes across terrible after this story.

To go out and deliberately hurt another footballer – a teammate, let alone an opponent – is simply callous, and Brewitt deserves all the [criticism](https://twitter.com/LOI_TVOfficial/status/1316787704248643586?s=20) that is coming his way.

Fortunately, Cleary wasn’t badly injured by the terrible tackle that ended up taking place in training, but a [tweet](https://twitter.com/DanielCleary21/status/1316792677397155841?s=20) from him on Thursday suggests he hasn’t forgotten about it.

Brewitt deserves to be remembered in a bad light for this incident, regardless of him being so open about it.