6 big players Liverpool failed to sign under Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers has seen many of his transfer targets join rival clubsLiverpool have been in dismal form recently and are currently outside the top half of the table and were also knocked out of the Champions League in an embarrassing manner. Manager, Brendan Rodgers, has been under heavy criticism due the poor performance of the club and also because of the collective failure of the club’s summer recruits.The performance of Liverpool’s summer signings have raised questions about their transfer policy. The club’s ideology of signing young stars with huge potential instead of signing established players as well as their inability to land star players has been a topic of discussion for a while.Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool have tried to sign several quality players in the last two years, but on several occasions, the club has failed. What if Liverpool managed to sign these players? Maybe they would have been in a better position.Here is a look at six big players Liverpool failed to sign under Brendan Rodgers. Honourable Mentions: Christian Eriksen: Was heavily linked with Liverpool for many transfer windows, but no serious approach was made. In the end he signed for Spurs. Loic Remy: Had a medical with Liverpool, which he reportedly failed.

#1 Gylfi Sigurdsson

The Icelandic midfielder’s first spell in England was with Reading and it was at Reading that he first worked with Brendan Rodgers, but he announced himself to the Premier League in 2012, when he joined Swansea City as a loanee. Brendan Rodgers was in charge of Swansea at that time, who gave Sigurdsson his league debut as a substitute against Arsenal and Sigurdsson made an immediate impact by setting up the winning goal for Swansea.

Sigurdsson was so influential at the Welsh club that he was named the Premier League player of the month for March 2012 and became the first Icelander to win the award. He scored 7 goals and assisted 4 in his 18 league games for Swansea and hence the Welsh club were close to agreeing a £6.8 million fee with his parent club, Hoffenheim, for the midfielder, but the deal collapsed when Brendan Rodgers moved to Liverpool.

Liverpool were naturally linked with the midfielder due to his experience working with Rodgers and rumors surfaced that the Merseyside club were close to signing him. Rodgers even spoke positively about the player and it seemed like Sigurdsson would be his first signing. But at this point, Spurs intervened and gave a more lucrative offer to the player, which Liverpool were unwilling to match. As a result Sigurdsson moved to the London club.

#2 Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Mkhitaryan spent a major part of his playing career with Ukrainian clubs and in his last season at Ukraine, which was with Shakhtar Donetsk, the midfielder scored 25 goals in 29 league appearances.

Liverpool were the only major European club linked with the Armenian for a major part of the transfer window and highly reliable sources also started reporting that the Merseyside club were close to agreeing a £23.6 million deal for their primary transfer target.

Liverpool fans were excited by the prospect of seeing Mkhitaryan as their marquee player, but a late intervention from Borussia Dortmund changed his final destination. Dortmund who were the finalists in the Champions League and were playing in the competition again were clearly a better choice for the Armenian and as a result, he signed for the German club.

#3 Willian Borges da Silva

When Liverpool’s potential deal for Mkhitaryan collapsed, questions were raised about the new transfer target the club had in mind, as there were not many quality players the club could have purchased without the added attraction of the Champions League.

At this point, Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala put their whole squad up for sale due to financial restrictions. Anzhi had many quality players in their side and the ‘items they put on sale’ attracted many customers. One of the players in the Anzhi squad was Brazilian player – Willian.

Willian’s hefty price tag forced many customers to restrict themselves to just window shopping, but Liverpool expressed serious interest in signing the player and even checked the price tag on him and it looked like Liverpool had a new target to buy, but once again Spurs entered the scenario.

Willian was inclined towards Spurs because the club was located in London compared to Liverpool’s Merseyside and their participation in Europe also helped. But Spurs learned a lesson in Karma, as Chelsea hijacked the deal from under their nose and signed Willian.

To rub salt into Liverpool’s wounds, Willian scored the second goal for Chelsea in the game at Anfield last season, which severely dented their title chances.

#4 Mohamed Salah

Liverpool failed to sign both Mkhitaryan and Willian during the summer transfer window in 2013 and eventually settled for as small as Victor Moses on loan.

The Reds thrived on the attacking prowess of Suarez and Sturridge, but their lack of attacking options from the bench and the poor displays of summer signings Iago Aspas, Victor Moses and Luis Alberto prompted them to try and sign a new player in the Winter transfer window.

Mohamed Salah had gained fame for scoring against Chelsea in the Champions League and in helping to end Mourinho’s win streak at Stamford Bridge, but Basel were knocked out of the Champions League and this gave clubs a good opportunity to sign Salah.

Liverpool were heavily linked with the player for a major part of the January transfer window in 2014, but the move was prolonged and the major reason cited was Liverpool’s reluctance to pay the asking price.

Chelsea entered the race very late in comparison to Liverpool, but the Blues were ready to pay the hefty fee and sign the player.

#5 Yevhen Konoplyanka

Once Liverpool’s move for Mohamed Salah collapsed, the Reds eyed Dinpro Dnipropetrovsk winger Yevhen Konoplyanka. The Ukrainian was dubbed as the next best thing to come from the country after Andriy Shevchenko and this alone was enough to excite the Liverpool fans who had seen many players joining their rivals.

Liverpool’s managing Director, Ian Ayre, was under heavy criticism for failing to wrap up many transfer deals in that very season and Ayre had personally flown to Ukraine to finalise the deal.

This time there were no interventions from any other club and all the signs were positive. The negotiation for the deal was happening on the transfer deadline day and with each passing moment the anxiety grew. Reputed journalists and trusted twitter accounts started to spread the word that it was only a matter of documentation before Konoplyanka became a Liverpool player, as the club had activated his buyout clause of £16 million.

With just minutes left before the transfer window closed, news started circulating that the deal collapsed. Soon the window was shut and it was reported that Ian Ayre did everything in his power to get the deal done, but Dnipro president Ihor Kolomoyskyi refused to sign the deal.

For a change Liverpool didn’t have to see their target join another club as Konoplyanka is still at Dnipro, but his contract will expire next summer and it will be interesting to see if Liverpool will reignite talks with the player as he is free to talk to other clubs about a potential summer move.

#6 Alexis Sanchez

During the summer, when news of Luis Suarez’s move to Barcelona surfaced, there were plenty of rumors about who the new replacement for the Uruguayan would be. There were rumors that Liverpool were interested in bringing Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez to the club and the Catalan club were willing to sell him.

The Chilean was on the back of a good display at the World Cup and a potential player plus cash deal was on the cards so that Barcelona could sign Suarez.

As usual, Liverpool were rumored to be leading the race for Sanchez, but once again a London club intervened. For a change it was Arsenal and not Chelsea or Spurs.

The odds shifted in favour of the Gunners as the player preferred a move to Arsenal for Geographical reasons as his family preferred staying in London over Merseyside. Arsenal signed Sanchez and Barcelona signed Suarez, as a result Liverpool were left with a lot of money, which unfortunately the club didn’t utilize well.