Some Liverpool fans would have been disappointed to see the Reds not move for Martin Odegaard when he signed for Arsenal permanently last summer. After all, he had impressed on loan with the Gunners and has repeatedly been linked with the Reds in the past, due to being a boyhood fan and even training with them on trial when Brendan Rodgers was manager.
The Norway international snubbed Liverpool's advances on that occasion, opting to sign for Real Madrid in 2015 when leaving Stromsgodset. Yet finding game-time limited at the Bernabeu, he was sent out on a series of loans, including to the Emirates, before signing permanently for Arsenal in a £30m deal.
But while Liverpool made no move to sign their former target, one former Red played a vital role in bringing the Norwegian back to North London.
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As required under FIFA’s regulations on working with intermediaries, the FA is required to annually publish details of the total payments made by clubs to registered intermediaries and the single transaction(s) in which each registered intermediary was involved. A look at the latest list and you'll see a familiar name listed as the intermediary for Odegaard - Bjorn Tore Kvarme.
Kvarme, who was back at Anfield last weekend for Liverpool Legends' defeat to Barcelona, joined the Reds from Rosenborg in 1997 and spent two and a half seasons with the Reds, making 54 appearances before signing for Saint-Etienne in 1999. He would later to Rosenborg before announcing his retirement in 2008 and later becoming an agent.
Odegaard was initially represented by his father before Kvarme took over the responsibility in 2018, and was involved in his previous loan moves to Vitesse Arnhem and Real Sociedad - a former club of the Liverpool defender - prior to the Norwegian's latest switches to Arsenal.
But while his connections to the Reds would perhaps prove beneficial if the club ever wanted to sign the playmaker, Jurgen Klopp has shown no signs of reigniting Liverpool interest in Odegaard to date.
