Liverpool approached Rb Leipzig striker Timo Werner last season, but the German told us he wasn’t interested in joining due to competition for places.
This is according to the Athletic, a very trusted source, who say that the forward thought there was simply nowhere for him to play – with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah flanking the undroppable Roberto Firmino.
In many ways, he has a point: Werner wouldn’t come in and be an automatic starter. In the attacking positions, basically nobody would, bar perhaps Kylian Mbappe.
But he’d play plenty of matches, get to work under Jurgen Klopp and compete for the side who right now, are probably the best on the planet.
It’s not many players who reject Liverpool nowadays, so we have to respect Werner’s bullishness in that he wants a guaranteed role.
But it’s more his loss in our gain in that we acquired Takumi Minamino this January to support our strikers and the Japanese looks a brilliant, bargain acquisition.