In the summer of 2017 when Mohamed Salah finally signed for Liverpool, in a deal worth £35m, it ended the Reds' pursuit of a player they had tracked since Brendan Rodgers' time at the club in 2014.
Back then, when Jose Mourinho held the reins at Stamford Bridge, a 21-year-old Salah had placed himself on the wishlist of a whole host of European clubs after a string of impressive performances for FC Basel and Egypt. Of those eye-catching displays, there were goals home and away against Chelsea as the Swiss champions completed a monumental scalp when they beat the Londoners home and away in the 2013/14 Champions League group stages.
But while Rodgers was looking to bolster his attacking ranks in January 2014, with the signing of the Egyptian, Liverpool's interest in Salah extended back to when he first made the move to Europe following the suspension of the Egypt Premier League in early 2012 - after riots killed 70 fans during a match between al-Ahly and al-Masry in Port Said.
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Just weeks after signing for Swiss champions Basel, Salah lit up the London 2012 Olympics with a string of dazzling performances, most notably against Brazil, which helped Egypt advance from the group stages before being defeated by Japan in the first knockout round.
Rodgers' dream to reshape the misfiring Liverpool front-line with the addition of Salah would stem back to the summer of 2012, and the Northern Irishman's first weeks in the Anfield hot seat after he was head-hunted by owners Fenway Sports Group following Swansea City's impressive 11th-place finish during their first season in the Premier League. Liverpool, meanwhile, had faltered to an underwhelming eighth-place finish under Anfield icon Kenny Dalglish in the previous season, and despite winning the League Cup - and reaching the FA Cup final - the Scotsman was relieved of his duties just days after the season's end.
Walking through the doors of Melwood, Rodgers was presented with the sizeable task of fine-tuning a squad that had been assembled by three different managers during a three-year period and was clearly lacking cohesion and identity. One of the main areas for the newly-appointed Liverpool boss to address was the Reds' attacking prospects, with Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll, Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez underperforming as they fired just 47 league goals during the 2011/12 campaign.
The London 2012 Olympics handed the Liverpool manager the perfect opportunity to identify his preferred options ahead of his maiden campaign on Merseyside, with Daniel Sturridge, Bellamy, Suarez and Salah all competing for their respective nations. Bellamy and Sturridge lined up alongside one another as they turned out for a Team GB side managed by Stuart Pearce, featuring Ryan Giggs and Joe Allen amongst others, but were ultimately knocked out at the quarter-final stage by South Korea.
Bellamy, who had returned to Anfield the previous summer some four years after he had ended his first spell at the club, mustered just one goal in his four outings as an Olympian just weeks after Rodgers hailed the 32-year-old as someone he had been excited to work with upon accepting the managerial role at Anfield.
"It was good to meet him [Bellamy] and get his side of the Liverpool story," said Rodgers in June 2012. "He's a big supporter of this club - he loves the club. He's a good guy. He has a real passion for Liverpool Football Club and that's the type of people I want here.
"I like his intensity, his work-rate and his passion so I would love him to be here. It would take a really special and unique opportunity for Craig to walk out of Liverpool and for us to go our separate ways."
As it transpired, the Welshman would leave Liverpool after his return from the Olympics and sign for boyhood club Cardiff City. And as if the loss of his on-the-field qualities wasn't a devastating enough blow for the Reds, the forward had been one of the club's poster boys ahead of the 2012/13 kit launch with new manufacturers Warrior - meaning his face had been plastered on the side of Anfield. It left FSG looking red-faced.
The Liverpool manager would turn his attention to Sturridge, Bellamy's team-mate while on Team GB duty, in an attempt to bolster the Reds' firepower ahead of the new season, but an initial loan offer to sign the then Chelsea forward, who had impressed with his displays during the summer games, was rebuffed by the player who was only willing to consider a permanent move away from Stamford Bridge.
In early July 2012, Rodgers did eventually strengthen that forward line when he got his hands on a player he knew all too well from his previous roles as Swansea manager and Chelsea youth team manager, Fabio Borini. The Italian completed a switch from Serie A side Roma to link up with the manager he had flourished with during his brief time in South Wales.
However, despite his addition, the first half of the season would see Liverpool fire blanks against West Brom, Stoke City and Swansea before Rodgers, unhappy with the attacking output of his forward department, used the January transfer to go back in for long-time target Sturridge and finally agree a £12m fee with the European champions for his signature.
The England international would go on to form a fine partnership with Suarez, who had been one of the main attractions of that the previous summer's Olympic games, during their two-and-a-half years at Anfield. The former Liverpool No.7 lined up in Group A, which would become a batch of Anfield greats present and future, as he faced Sturridge's Team GB and Senegal side led by a youthful Sadio Mane.
Of course, by the time Mane and Salah's journey had taken them to Merseyside in the summer of 2016 and 2017 respectfully, Suarez had long departed and Sturridge was evidently on the decline as he continued to fight with injuries. But even though it would have been the latter duo Anfield officials had their eyes on during the 16-team tournament in London ten years ago, Mane and Salah's impact throughout the competition would have no doubt etched their names into the minds of those on Merseyside.
With the Senegal international then plying his trade at Metz in France, Liverpool's interest in Mane is said to have evolved no further than pure admiration because of work permit issues, leaving him free to join Red Bull Salzburg a month after the Olympics ended.
Ultimately the failed recruitment of 2012 intensified the job Rodgers had on his hands during the first six months at the helm as the void left by Bellamy was left vacant until Sturridge made the move the following January. His signing instigated a change in approach from the Reds recruitment as they had replaced Bellamy with someone nine years his junior.
It's a summer that despite its hectic nature, planted the seeds for the next era of Liverpool's recruitment with former sporting director Michael Edwards, and his successor Julian Ward, now choosing to extensively track potential recruits over a prolonged period of time. Usually, before their price peaks in the European market.
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