Stoke City winger Xherdan Shaqiri has claimed former club Bayern Munich stopped a potential move to Liverpool.
Shaqiri spent almost three years at Bayern, making 81 appearances and scoring 17 goals in all competitions, winning the Bundesliga twice, as well as a brace of German Cup wins and a solitary Champions League triumph.
The Switzerland international couldn't hold down a regular starting position with the Bundesliga giants, however, and eventually moved to Italy for a brief spell with Inter Milan before joining Stoke last year.
Speaking toFootball Italia, Shaqiri stated he had decided to join Liverpool, only for Bayern's directors to stop the move, with the 25-year-old then being displaced by youngster Gianluca Gaudino at the beginning of the following season.
I wanted to leave Bayern at all costs. I decided to join Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers had already called me a couple of times before the World Cup, but Bayern stopped me," Shaqiri revealed.
The Bayern directors thought that the situation would change, but it didn't. Gianluca Gaudino was preferred to me in the first game.
This was, of course, a signal for me, in that I didn't understand why they wanted to keep me at all costs.
Inter? They simply tried for me the most. They promised me a new Inter. In the Bundesliga, I'd already won everything.
Italian football, however, I didn't particularly like. It was too slow, full of tactics and difficult for me to show my explosiveness."
Shaqiri's time at Inter was brief, with the winger spendingjust half a season with the Serie A side, scoring three goals in 20 appearances before making the move to the Premier League with Stoke. The former Basel youngster has made 11 league appearances so far this season, scoring three goals.