Marseille defender Duje Caleta-Car says he had the chance to sign for Liverpool during the January transfer window.
The Reds moved to bring in cover at centre-back last month due to a string of injuries in that position.
Manager Jurgen Klopp is currently without long-term absentees Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.
In the end, Liverpool made a double swoop on transfer deadline day as they signed Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak.
Davies was snapped up from Championship side Preston North End for an initial fee of £500,000, which could rise to £1.6million with add-ons.
Kabak joined from German club Schalke on a loan deal until the end of the season.
Liverpool will play a loan fee of around £1million with a potential further £500,000 depending on appearances and performance in the Champions League.
The Reds have an option to sign the 20-year-old Turkey international on a permanent basis in the summer for around £18million.
A number of other players were linked with a move to Merseyside before the arrivals of Davies and Kabak.
Now centre-back Caleta-Car has claimed he was one of the players Liverpool tried to sign - but it was decided he would stay in France for the time being.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of Marseille’s clash with Nice, the Croatia international said: “Today, there is the Champions League, and I am going to watch the two games (Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig v Liverpool).
"I received an offer from Liverpool. It was an honour for me to know that such a club wanted me.
"We decided with the club that I was going to stay.
"Marseille is also a great club and I still have a lot of improving to do here.”
Caleta-Car has been with Marseille since 2018, when he joined from RB Salzburg in Austria.
The 24-year-old made 130 appearances for Salzburg and has played 78 times for Marseille to date.
Marseille are currently ninth in the Ligue 1 table going into Wednesday night's home fixture against Nice.
