Liverpool fans have become accustomed to seeing their club miss out on their top targets in recent times.
So whilst the fact Inter Milan confirmed the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri from Bayern Munich came as no surprise yesterday, that did not make it any less of a disappointment.
The Reds have missed out on a host of top class players under Brendan Rodgers, including the likes of Diego Costa and Willian (both at Chelsea of course) and Alexis Sanchez who is currently scoring goals for fun at Arsenal.
Shaqiri was the latest in a long line of players to reject a move to Anfield and came a matter of hours after former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes opted for life as a Manchester United reserve instead of replacing Simon Mignolet as Liverpool’s number one.
Brendan Rodgers admitted Liverpool must do more to attract top class players to Anfield in his pre-match press conference yesterday because at present, it would come as a shock if the Reds managed to lure anyone decent to the club this month.
Here we have gone through the rumours, and found it pretty straightforward to find five players who we simply can’t see making the switch to Merseyside this month.
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Click on Brendan Rodgers to reveal 5 Liverpool rumours that WON’T happen this month.
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Petr Cech
Brendan Rodgers is understood to have made a replacement for Simon Mignolet his top priority this January with Chelsea’s out of favour Petr Cech believed to be his top target.
But despite his ‘bromance’ with Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea boss has said on a number of occasions he will not be letting Cech go this month.
The player’s agent has said the same thing, revealing that if the 32-year-old is to leave Stamford Bridge, it is more likely to happen in the summer.
Marco Reus
The German was heavily linked with a switch to Anfield in the summer. That said, Liverpool’s failure to launch a bid proved costly and sure enough, every top club in Europe has now registered an interest in the Dortmund star.
Liverpool’s failure to land their top targets has been a constant feature of the last 10 years whilst Premier League rivals have enjoyed the benefit of making bids that actually match the asking price.
If Reus ends up at Liverpool it will be a major shock, especially with domestic rivals such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all interested, and all clubs that have experience in beating the Reds to major signings.
Nemanja Vidic
Inter Milan have already beaten the Reds to the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri and now it seems they want to rub further salt in the wounds at Anfield by taking Lucas Leiva to the San Siro.
Lucas has been one of the most consistent performers for Liverpool this season – the win ratio with him in and out of the side is proof of this – and it is key Brendan Rodgers keeps a hold of him until the end of the season at least.
Inter Milan are apparantly offering former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic as a part of the deal – something we see as being very far-fetched.
Vidic only departed Old Trafford in May and despite Liverpool’s need for a top class centre back, his connections with the Reds’ bitterest of rivals means this deal is a no-go.
Karim Benzema
Some rumours have gone as far to suggest Karim Benzema has his ‘heart set’ on a £40 million move to Anfield this month. This is strange when you consider only last summer he openly said Liverpool were not ‘a big enough club’ to satisfy his ambitions when reports linked him with a move to the Reds.
Real Madrid have never sold one of their top players at the midway point of the season and given Liverpool’s atrocious record of getting big money signings over the line, this is a deal we simply do not see happening – no matter how much supporters may want these rumours to be true.
Martin Montoya
The Spanish full back was believed to be a top transfer target for Liverpool last January and the Reds suffered the familiar story of failing to get a deal completed.
Montoya opted to stay at Barcelona and fight for a first team place – something that hasn’t gone so well.
The 23-year-old is eager to leave the Camp Nou this month but his agent reckons he will cost in the region of 20 million Euros.
Given Liverpool already boast full backs such as Glen Johnson, Javi Manquillo, Alberto Moreno, Jose Enrique and the returning Jon Flanagan who are all fighting for a starting position, that kind of money on another full back just doesn’t make any sense.
