For the majority of the second half of last season, Liverpool were reportedly leading the race to sign Mason Mount from Chelsea.
With a year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, the England international was stuck in an impasse regarding a new deal and had rejected a number of offers from the Londoners. With the Reds in need of a midfield revamp, Liverpool’s name was never too far away when it came to transfer speculation regarding Mount’s future.
That was until the final weeks of the season though, when Manchester United took over as favourites for the 24-year-old’s signature. Consequently, Jurgen Klopp instead switched attention to Alexis Mac Allister.
Both clubs had reportedly been in for both players, before settling on their chosen target respectively. Whether such stances were set from the off or forged in response to each player’s own preference is unclear, with reports suggesting that Mac Allister wanted to play for Klopp, while Mount favoured United.
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Either way, Liverpool were able to sign the World Cup winner for a fee in the region of £35m from Brighton & Hove Albion within two weeks of the Premier League season finishing, while United continued to negotiate back and forth with Chelsea. At the very least, the Reds had avoided an unwanted, drawn-out transfer saga.
United would eventually get their man after agreeing a deal with Chelsea worth up to £60m last week. At the same time, Liverpool were finalising their second summer signing in Dominik Szoboszlai after activating a £60m release clause in his RB Leipzig contract.
Following his arrival, the Hungarian, who was also determined to play for Klopp, made it clear he was happy to sacrifice a year in the Champions League, having seen the Reds fail to qualify last season, in order to play for Liverpool.
"I can accept that I won't be able to play in [the Champions League] for a year and the goal is to win the Europa League," he said. "Liverpool are competing in four competitions and I want to help them win as many of them as possible.
“When I heard there was a lot of interest, I didn't think about the Champions League. Rather, it is about winning the Europa League with Liverpool.”
In contrast, Mount’s desire to play in the Champions League, Chelsea’s exorbitant price tag for a player with a year left on his contract, and the midfielder’s own hefty wage demands left Liverpool content not to follow up their initial interest in the England international.
At Old Trafford, the 24-year-old will reportedly be paid at least £250k a week. Such terms would have seen him second only to Mohamed Salah at Anfield on the Reds’ wage bill.
Players ultimately have to earn those highest terms with success on the pitch, as demonstrated by both Szoboszlai and Mac Allister believed to have agreed terms equating to roughly marginally less than half of the England international’s own Red Devils contract.
United will paint a picture of how they ‘beat’ Liverpool to the signing of the Chelsea midfielder. Yet the Reds withdrew from the race long ago. And Klopp’s own stance regarding transfers seemingly made such an outcome inevitable.
“If I would speak to a player now and he would tell me: ‘If you were playing in the Champions League next year I would be really interested’, I would put the phone down from my side,” the German declared back in April 2016. “I am not interested.
“I always tell players if when you are 35 or 36 and look back on your career and you think about the one year when you didn’t play Champions League then you are really a poor boy.
“There are so many things you can do and reach if you go together with the team. You can qualify for the Champions League, play Champions League, maybe win it or whatever. It is a much more satisfying thing than all the rest.
“That is what I would say. It is pushing the train, not jumping on the running train. That is what we need here.
“If somebody says: ‘No, you don’t play Champions League next year,’ then goodbye and thank you, have fun next year wherever you will be.
“We will find players or we have players already that will go our way. That is not my way, that is the normal way for a club not playing in the Champions League.”
Such sentiments would be echoed repeatedly last season as Liverpool stumbled towards ‘mere’ Europa League qualification. Meanwhile, Klopp would also insist, later in 2016, how the Reds don’t throw money at players to convince them to join the club.
“I can say we don’t want to convince players with money,” he said. “We want to convince them with the way we go.
“We want to have players who are ready to develop and it’s not a message for the winter transfer window – it’s a message for the next few years. We have already really good players and if someone wants to be a part, they are welcome.”
Only Mount can answer how much he was persuaded by the contract on offer at Old Trafford, or the lure of Champions League football after Liverpool missed out on the top four. Likewise, only Reds bosses can confirm just how highly he placed on their transfer wish list, before attentions were switched to Mac Allister and Szoboszlai.
But ultimately Liverpool stuck to their guns rather than step away from how they traditionally operate to accommodate Mount. If a player is only motivated by the biggest wage or Champions League football, Klopp isn’t interested.
Of course, that’s not to suggest that Mount is actually one such player. But in the case of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, Liverpool have at least signed two players who were desperate to play for Klopp no matter what, and buy in completely to what the Reds want to achieve and how they will go about it.
