Former Germany striker Max Kruse has revealed that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was forced to apologise after seeing his transfer to Anfield cancelled.
The ex-Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg man was a sought-after free-agent in the summer of 2019 having left the former at the end of his contract. The now 34-year-old was fresh off the back of a brilliant season having netted 12 goals and notched 14 assists in all competitions for Bremen as they only narrowly missed out on Europa League qualification.
In the end, Kruse ended up making a surprise switch to Turkish giants Fenerbahce, staying with the side for just a solitary season before the Covid pandemic forced him to depart. He has gone on to represent Union Berlin and former club Wolfsburg once more but finds himself a free agent after a mutual termination of his contract earlier this season.
It could have been hugely different for the veteran having previously been on the verge of a switch to Liverpool following extensive talks with Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. Talking with En Son Haber, the 14-time German international said: "I was going to sign a contract with Liverpool in the summer of 2019, when my contract with Werder Bremen expired.
“We have been on the phone with Jürgen Klopp since February. It was like I was transferred to Liverpool, only the signature was missing. It would be the pinnacle of my career. However, things developed very differently."
In the end, the Merseysiders pulled the plug on a swoop for Kruse - a decision that left the striker gutted and Klopp staging a grovelling apology. He continued: “The duo of Sturridge and Origi was going to be sold, I was going to sign. That was their plan.
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“Then Origi started scoring many goals in the last part of the season. The club changed its mind after these goals. Jürgen called me, 'Sorry Max. The decision to keep Origi. Unfortunately, we won't be able to transfer you.' My transfer to Liverpool didn't happen at the last minute. I was very upset."
Kruse’s failed switch was not the only occasion that Liverpool pulled out of a switch for a forward at the last minute. French playmaker Nabil Fekir was infamously on the verge of making a big-money switch just 12 months before the Reds’ apparent talks with the German.
He underwent a medical as a Liverpool player and even completed all of the club media commitments in anticipation of a deal being completed. However, the Reds pulled out of a move with Fekir being forced to stay at Lyon. The now 29-year-old moved on just a year later with a switch to Spanish side Real Betis and has been there ever since.
