Graeme Souness says he turned down Barcelona after leaving Liverpool in 1984

Graeme Souness has revealed he rejected an offer from Barcelona when he left Liverpool in 1984, weeks after lifting Liverpool's fourth European Cup against Roma. Instead he joined Italian side Sampdoria for £650,000.

At the time Souness was one of the world's top midfielders and finished sixth in that year's Ballon d'Or, making his move to Genoa rather than a continental heavyweight unexpected. After his departure Barcelona had just appointed Terry Venables as manager and allowed Diego Maradona to leave for Napoli.

Explaining his decision to leave Liverpool, Souness said: "I had to leave Liverpool because my wife at the time was about to inherit money and she had to spend three years out of the country." He added: "I could have got around it somehow, but I decided to go because at that time Italy was the place to go. All the best players in the world were going there."

On the Barcelona offer, Souness said: "I got offered a two-year deal at Barcelona, which I turned down because I needed three and, even because of my age, go to the third year." He also explained his choice of Sampdoria, saying: "There were a couple of other clubs in Italy interested, but Sampdoria had been bought by Paolo Mantovani and he was building a young team so wanted an experienced player. That's how I ended up there."

Souness won an Italian Cup during his two seasons with Sampdoria before joining Rangers as player-manager in 1986, and he enjoyed a trophy-laden five-year spell at Ibrox. He has advised Rangers on managerial appointments in recent years.

Souness, 73, said he would not return as Rangers manager, contrasting himself with Martin O'Neill: "No, Martin's a very different personality to me. He's a nice guy." He added: "I started in management at 33 and football was a very different workplace then. My style of management, maybe my style of telling people too readily what they don't want to hear, it wouldn't work today. Football certainly needs a bit of that, but would it accept it? I doubt it."

Commenting on Rangers' recent form under Derek McInnes, Souness pointed to two Old Firm victories in September — a 3-0 League Cup win at Ibrox followed by a 1-0 Premiership victory at Celtic Park a week later — and noted Rangers sit two points behind the champions in the table. He said: "They've now psychologically planted a seed in Celtic's heads that they are bigger, stronger and better than them in the last two games," adding: "So, seven days later, if you're a Celtic supporter, player or on the staff you're thinking 'that won't happen again'. Well, it did happen again, and on your pitch - and the 1-0 did not flatter Rangers."

Souness's account accompanies the release this week of his new book, 'My Rangers: How I changed Scottish football for ever'. He was one of the game's leading midfielders in the 1980s and won three European Cups with Liverpool.