Liverpool will always be linked with potential new players as transfer windows continue to dominate the headlines.
Despite being linked, and maybe even showing a genuine interest, the Reds don’t always get deals over the line. One such player was the subject of that sort of speculation earlier this summer.
Aurelien Tchouameni was wanted by Liverpool, but he instead opted to leave Monaco and sign for Real Madrid. As a result, the Reds missed out on a target they had in mind, although the club were always expecting the player to move to La Liga.
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Even though Liverpool missed out on Tchouameni, and other players in the past, there is not always the guarantee that they will thrive at whichever club they are at. Here, we take a look at some players the Reds seemingly missed out on, only for it to not go to plan for them.
Timo Werner
Liverpool were heavily linked with a move for Timo Werner during the summer of 2020. His form at RB Leipzig had attracted attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Werner scored 34 goals for Leipzig in the 2019/20 season, and had a release clause thought to be worth £47.5million in his contract. But the Reds opted against signing the player.
Instead, Chelsea moved to bring Werner to Stamford Bridge, while Liverpool went and signed Diogo Jota from Wolves. Werner spent two years at Chelsea before returning to Leipzig earlier this summer.
Mario Gotze
One of the first players to be heavily linked with a move to Liverpool in the Klopp era. The player himself would confirm the Reds’ interest in him years later.
In the summer of 2016, Liverpool supposedly wanted Gotze. However, he instead chose to return to Borussia Dortmund from Bayern Munich.
Gotze would go on to score just 14 goals in four years on his return to Dortmund, before being let go on a free transfer to PSV Eindhoven in 2020. He is now with Eintracht Frankfurt, having made the move back to Germany this summer.
Nicolas Pepe
Liverpool were tentatively linked with a move for Nicolas Pepe during the summer of 2019. However, there wasn’t much truth to those rumours, even though plenty of outlets seemed to suggest there was.
Pepe would instead leave Rennes and complete a £72m move to Arsenal. One of his first games for the Gunners came against Liverpool in August 2019, which the Reds won 3-1 - Pepe squandered a one-vs-one with Alisson Becker during the match at Anfield.
His Arsenal career failed to hit the heights his price tag promised, and this summer he was sent out on loan to French club Nice. He had scored 27 goals in 112 appearances for the North London club before his exit.
Saul Niguez
Liverpool were heavily linked with a possible new midfielder in the summer of 2021. Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez was one of the names on the lips of every Reds fan a little over 12 months ago.
Instead of signing for Liverpool, Saul completed a loan move to Chelsea. Things would not go to plan for him in the capital, though.
He made 23 appearances during his temporary stint in West London, scoring just the one goal. Saul would not impress enough to earn a permanent move, and returned to Atletico at the end of last season which he still plays.
Alex Teixeira
Liverpool apparently wanted to make Alex Teixeira one of the first main signings in the Klopp era. January 2016 saw the Reds heavily linked with the signing of the playmaker from Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Reds had agreed to sign Joel Matip and Marko Grujic that month, but Klopp supposedly wanted a big name through the door early on in life at Anfield. A move for Teixeira, though, failed to materialise.
Just a few weeks after being linked with Liverpool, Teixeira left Shakhtar and signed for Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning. He would spend nearly five years in China before leaving as a free agent in January 2021.
After a brief stint in Turkey with Besiktas, Teixeira is now back in his homeland in Brazil with Vasco de Gama, who he joined earlier this summer.
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