Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce has admitted he tried to sign Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk during his time as Hull City boss in 2015.
The 58-year-old revealed he wanted to sign the Dutch defender for the Tigers following a dinner conversation with Celtic owner Dermot Desmond and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's clash with the Reds, Bruce told reporters: "Virgil van Dijk: wow, what a player.
"We all know how good Liverpool are up front but signing him and the keeper [Alisson] gave Liverpool the backbone they needed, just took them to the next level.
"I could have taken him [Van Dijk] to Hull," Bruce admitted.
"I had dinner with Kenny Dalglish and the owner of Celtic, Dermot Desmond, in Barbados – I'm name-dropping now – and the owner of Celtic was waxing lyrical about the best players he's had.
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"He was saying, '[Henrik] Larsson is definitely, definitely the best player that I've seen play for Celtic in my ownership' and what he said is, 'What I can't understand is, nobody has gone for Van Dijk'.
"I thought, 'That's interesting, he's seen a lot of football over the last 12 years' so I went and we tried. I tried to get him before he went to Southampton."
Van Dijk completed a deadline day move to the Saints in 2015 for £13million, before making the £75m transfer to Anfield in 2018.
Bruce also admitted he 'missed' out on Mohamed Salah, despite regular scouting trips to Egypt he never tried to sign the forward.
He added: "I took a few from Egypt. But I missed him."
The former Manchester United boss did play an important role in Andy Robertson's career.
During Bruce's Hull tenure the left-back was scouted playing for Dundee United by the Tigers' chief scout Stan Ternent.
"We did our homework. I went to see him and we took him," Bruce explained.
