The summer of 2013 saw Brendan Rodgers attempt to mould his Liverpool squad for his second season in charge.
What would follow would be a challenge for the Premier League title, which saw the Reds finish just two points behind Manchester City. One player who can argue as having played his part in that was Luis Alberto.
On this day in 2013, Liverpool signed Alberto from La Liga outfit Sevilla in a deal worth £6.8m. Having signed for a relatively low fee, there was hope, perhaps even expectation, that Rodgers and co had bagged a bargain.
Sadly, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
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He'd make just nine appearances for the club, without scoring, before being sent out on consecutive loans to Malaga and Deportivo respectively. And then in 2016, he was quietly sold to Lazio for £4.3m plus add-ons .
In September last year, Alberto admitted that he “wasted a couple of years” of his career when he signed for Liverpool. Speaking to Rivista Undici , Alberto said: “ When such a team calls you, you can’t say no.
“In a short time, I had gone from the Spanish second division to a team that could win the Premier, with players like Gerrard, Suarez or Sturridge.
“I had moved on to a completely different football; I realised that beyond the technical quality, I had to raise the level of many other things.
“Of course, it’s true: it would certainly have gone differently if they had called me at another time, but there are those who throw away fifteen years of their career; after all I have only wasted a couple of years.”
While Liverpool may have pocketed a £2.5m loss on the Alberto deal, the sale may have quietly gone on to help them in the future. This is where Reds’ renowned, now former, sporting director Michael Edwards comes into play.
In September 2020, after four years at Lazio and apparent interest from clubs such as Manchester City, Alberto put pen to paper on a five-year contract. It would see Lazio reportedly include an £87m release clause in Alberto’s new deal.
This was down to Alberto’s impressive form for the Serie A club. In his first four seasons in Italy, Alberto provided 44 assists as well as scoring 26 goals.
Lazio were desperate to keep him, and they wanted to make sure that, if a financially strong club came calling, they would be in a strong position. This is, once again, where Liverpool come in.
When negotiating the deal to send Alberto to Lazio, Edwards and his team included a 30% sell-on clause in the deal, meaning Liverpool could be entitled to some future fee. Should Lazio get even half of that release clause for Alberto, £43.5m, the Reds could bank a tidy sum of £13m.
Since signing his new contract, Alberto has made a further 84 appearances for the Italian club to take his tally up to , scoring a further 14 goals and contributing another 16 assists.
Given Alberto has now reached 29 years of age, and his form, while steady, is not likely to attract the interest of the world’s richest clubs. But were a club to show an interest and Lazio end up considering that offer, then Liverpool will be waiting to receive the benefits of another piece of Edwards’ negotiating genius.
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