As the Reds prepare to travel to Real Madrid for their Champions League Round of 16 second leg, here's your Liverpool FC evening headlines for Monday, March 13.
FSG handed surprising £60m transfer question that could change Liverpool plan
"We will wait for him like a good wife when the husband is in jail." Jurgen Klopp has had to use such an analogy more than he would have liked during his seven-and-a-half years as Liverpool manager.
The Reds have regularly been cursed by injury under the German’s reign, with Virgil van Dijk’s ACL injury which kick-started a season-long centre-back crisis in 2020/21 perhaps the most obvious example, but this season it has stung that little bit more. The Times reported over the weekend that his squad has missed a combined total of 162 Premier League games through injury so far in this campaign alone - the most in the English top-flight by far.
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Injuries have at least eased up in recent weeks, with Luis Diaz the most senior long-term absentee left sidelined. The Colombian, who is poised to return after the March international break, has missed 27 matches in all competitions so far this season after injuring his knee back in October, then undergoing surgery in December, with such a total set to rise to 28 against Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
Such a total is only slightly more than the number of games fellow forward Diogo Jota has missed (24) prior to his return from injury last month. The Portuguese injured his hamstring on international duty last summer before suffering a setback in pre-season training with the Reds.
Read the full story HERE.
FSG investor reveals $350m Liverpool regret after being 'shut down' in takeover attempt
Fenway Sports Group partner Gerry Cardinale says that one of the biggest regrets in his career was not purchasing Liverpool in 2008.
Cardinale, the founder of FSG’s third largest shareholder RedBird Capital Partners, had been working for US investment bank Goldman Sachs at the time and had urged the firm to make a move on a controlling stake in the Reds at a valuation of $350m.
At the time, the deeply unpopular reign of George Gillett and Tom Hicks was in situ and interested parties were circling and ready to take over the club, including current Newcastle United part owner Amanda Staveley alongside Dubai International Capital.
No Goldman deal materialised, however, with former CEO Lloyd Blankfein blocking the deal after Cardinale had managed to sway the initial opinion of the Goldman investment committee through getting the buy-in of the ownership groups of both the New York Yankees, where Cardinale had a strong connection through helping to set up the regional sports TV station YES Network, and the Dallas Cowboys.
FSG, then New England Sports Ventures, eventually acquired Liverpool at a similar valuation in 2010, the value of the club now standing at as much as $4.5bn by Forbes magazine.
Read the full story HERE.
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