Liverpool could finally move for a player Jurgen Klopp was reportedly a big fan of
Jurgen Klopp is a Liverpool legend(Image: Getty)
Liverpool’s choice to sign Mohamed Salah over Julian Brandt is perhaps the most crucial sliding doors moment in the club’s recent history. During the summer of 2017, ex-manager Jurgen Klopp was on the hunt for a deadly winger who would go on to form one point of a lethal three-pronged attack with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
It’s said that Klopp was eager to bring German star Brandt, then 21, to Anfield. On paper, he seemed a perfect fit for Liverpool, having notched up 12 goal contributions across 40 appearances for Bayer Leverkusen.
Instead, Klopp was reportedly urged to move for Salah, who joined the club for £36million from Roma. Two Premier League titles, a Champions League crown and 257 goals later, the Reds’ decision seems comfortably vindicated after Salah left the club this summer.
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Brandt eventually departed Leverkusen and joined Klopp’s former side, Borussia Dortmund, in 2019. The German, now 30, is set to leave the Black and Yellows after seven seasons, where he scored 57 goals in 307 appearances and is available on a free transfer.
Is there a case for Liverpool to finally move for Brandt, a whole nine years after the club were first linked? There is. Brandt can play across the front, mainly deputising in an advanced midfield position but he can also play on either flank – an attribute Liverpool are said to be on the lookout for this season as Andoni Iraola looks to rebuild his team’s attack.
He also offers a substantial goal threat. He has scored 48 goals and bagged 45 assists from the left in his career so far, while claiming 19 goals and 14 assists from the right. He has notched 37 goals and a stunning 66 assists from the No. 10 role.
The German was almost signed under Klopp(Image: Getty)
As we know, availability is also key with Liverpool’s hectic schedule. Brandt’s injury history is promising, with the versatile attacker having missed just three games for Dortmund last season and only five the season before that.
He’s also used to being in the spotlight. A former Germany international, Brandt burst onto the scene as a teenager, making his Leverkusen debut before the age of 18 and was immediately linked with Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, whom he reportedly turned down twice.
Brandt also seems to be of honest character. Speaking in 2017, amid Klopp’s supposed interest, he told Kicker: “My gut feeling and my head are telling me the time to move has not arrived yet. I have to straighten things out in Leverkusen.”He stayed true to his word and played on for another two seasons at the Bayer Arena. There is also the matter of Brandt being ‘free’ and in a world where the Reds are looking to shell out north of £80m for the likes of RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande and PSG’s Bradley Barcola, this could be filed under ‘no brainer’.
Brandt is available for free(Image: Getty)
Klopp has tempered the idea that he advocated for Brandt over Salah in recent times, but did admit to speaking to the forward.
“There is always a story that I wanted to sign Julian Brandt or someone like that,” Klopp told The Anfield Wrap. “The situation with that is if you go for a winger, you talk to seven or eight. Yes, we spoke to him, but we spoke to Salah.”
There’s no doubt Liverpool made the right call in swooping for the man who’ll forever be known as the Egyptian King on the Kop. But the very idea of Brandt actually succeeding Salah all these years later feels so surreal that it just might work.
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