Vladimir Romanov has opened up on why not buying Liverpool before Tom Hicks and George Gillett did is the biggest regret of his business life.
The 72-year-old has revealed how he agreed an initial deal, with then Liverpool chairman David Moores, to buy the Anfield club for £200million.
But after his financial partner, Oleg Deripaska, refused to agree the deal was scrapped, resulting in Liverpool being sold to Hicks and Gillett in February 2007 instead.
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Romanov, who was the controversial owner of Scottish side Hearts from 2005 until 2013, also revealed how one of his first moves as Liverpool owner would have been to sell Steven Gerrard to Chelsea in a bid to raise funds for the club.
"We played Liverpool when I was at Kaunas and we were a goal up. I agreed a deal with David Moores, who was their chairman, to buy them for £200 million,” the Lithuanian told the Edinburgh News in an interview conducted on his own personal K-19 nuclear submarine
"At the time, my budget at Hearts was tiny as I said, but we even drew up a preliminary contract. Unfortunately my financial partner Oleg Deripaska wouldn't agree to releasing the funds for it.”
"But I told him we would have got £120 million back straight away by selling Steven Gerrard to Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. He would have paid that.
"They ended up selling Liverpool for £600 million to the Americans. It's the biggest regret in my business life."
