Former Everton manager Roberto Martinez has admitted he held talks to become Liverpool manager following the sacking of Kenny Dalglish back in 2012.
The Spaniard, who is now in charge of the Portugal national team, spent just shy of three years at Goodison Park before being sacked in May of 2016.
The 49-year-old guided the Blues to the Europa League and also semi-final appearances in both domestic cup competitions during his time on Merseyside but he’s revealed that he could’ve been managing the team on the other side of Stanley Park instead.
“There were a lot of talks at the end of every season at Wigan and, in 2012, there were some conversations with Liverpool,” Martinez told FourFourTwo.
“From the beginning, myself and Dave Whelan [former Wigan chairman] had always spoken about a four-year plan, and we both believed we had to stick together and see the job through. Even if there were conversations with Liverpool, it was never going to happen.”
Dalglish replaced Roy Hodgson as Liverpool manager in January of 2011 and although he delivered the League Cup in 2012 he was sacked at the end of the season with the Reds finishing eighth in the Premier League – our worst showing since 1994.
It was then when Martinez was approached and held discussions over the vacant role but it was instead Brendan Rodgers who was appointed as manager.
The Northern Irishman came very close to ending our wait for a league title, only to be pipped to top spot by Manchester City during the 2013-14 campaign.
Martinez did a decent job at Everton but it would’ve been interesting to see how things would’ve panned out if he’d opted to join the red half of Merseyside instead.
Rafael Benitez became just the second person to manage both Liverpool and Everton (after William Edward Barclay in the 1890s) when he joined the Toffees in 2021.