Swedish forward reveals almost signing for Liverpool in 2010, and regrets not pushing deal

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This would be slightly harder to read for Liverpool fans if it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but we’re sure not many will be losing sleep over the fact that we missed out on signing Ola Toivonen in 2010…

Roy Hodgson, our worst manager of the Premier League era, tried to sign the player during his miserable tenure in charge, but for whatever reason the deal fell through, much to the disappointment of the now 29-year-old.

“I have had opportunities to come to the Premier League before,” Toivonen said, cited in the Daily Star.

“A couple of years ago it looked like I would be joining Liverpool when Roy Hodgson was there. Not fighting hard enough for that to happen is something I regret in my life.

“I always wanted to play in the Premier League so when I got the call from Sunderland it was a quick decision to make.”

The striker has just joined Sunderland on loan from French side Rennes, but was with PSV when we apparently made an approach for his services. Toivonen, who can play in midfield or up top, scored 61 times in 139 appearances for the Dutch. The record is strong, but the fact he’s waited until this point in his career to move to an elite league shows his (lack of) pedigree.

Instead of Toivonen, Hodgson brought Joe Cole, Danny Wilson, Christian Poulsen Brad Jones, Raul Meireles and Paul Konchesky to the club.

Gulp.

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