Former Liverpool CEO Rick Parry has spoken of how close they came to signing Brazilian fullback Daniel Alves early in his career.
Alves went onto to win everything in the game with Barcelona, but Parry admits Liverpool were close to signing the current Juventus fullback.
He told BBC Merseyside: "We had the deal - finally after enormous complications - tied up for Dani Alves and then the decision was should we buy two players or should we spend all of that on a full-back?
“Alves wasn't the player then that he is now. but he always looked like he would be a great player. Would he have been a better signing than (Jermaine) Pennant and (Peter) Crouch for example? Probably yes, but it's easy with hindsight.
“Clearly, we were trying to make that final step. We didn't have Chelsea's money so we were trying to be smarter. Looking back, if I could do anything different, it would be to focus on buying one at a time rather than having to buy five or six every season."
Source: tribalfootball.com