Reports on Friday morning have linked Liverpool with an outrageous move for Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil superstar Neymar Jr.
According to 90min, "intermediaries are believed to have spoken with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle, informing the clubs of Neymar's interest in a move to the Premier League, as well as his potential availability".
The 31-year-old has been linked with a move to Chelsea on many occasions in recent years, but links of a sensational move to Anfield have surfaced for the first time and appear to be rather fanciful.
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Despite his obvious talents, Neymar Jr is perhaps one of the most misunderstood footballers of his generation and is frequently singled out for the shortcomings PSG have experienced in Europe during his six years at the club.
Having made the transfer from Barcelona for just shy of £200m in the summer of 2017, the jury is still out on whether his time at the Parc des Princes - despite his catalogue of goals, dazzling individual performances and four Ligue 1 titles - has been a success.
Quite simply, whatever Neymar does between now and the end of his time in the club, whenever that may be, his rank as a hero or villain will solely boil down to whether the current star-studded group of PSG players can finally get their hands on a maiden Champions League trophy.
While Liverpool's interest in Neymar doesn't appear to be too genuine, Chelsea seem to be the Premier League side best-placed to complete a remarkable deal for the forward, with ESPN claiming PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi and his Stamford Bridge counterpart, Todd Boehly, discussed the Brazilian at length during a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.
However, even if Liverpool were to target a player of Neymar's profile, it would be interesting to see if the Brazilian was welcomed to Anfield with open arms. That's because despite only facing the Reds twice during his career, both in the 2018/19 Champions League group stages, the forward made sure he was public enemy No.1 for both encounters.
Having lost the 2018 final to Real Madrid in Kyiv, Liverpool made no mistake in signalling their intent in the following season's curtain-raiser as they dispatched Neymar and his PSG team-mates during a five-goal thriller at Anfield.
First half goals from Daniel Sturridge and James Milner had the Kop rocking, before defender Thomas Meunier halved the visitor's deficit shortly before the break.
And while Jurgen Klopp's men would remain in control of the fixture for most of the second half, they were unable to find an elusive third goal to put the game out of reach for Thomas Tuchel's side. That would leave the door open for Neymar and a fresh-faced Kylian Mbappe to combine at the Kop End to work on opening for the Frenchman, who made no mistake slotting past Alisson Becker seven minutes from time.
With the French champions having faced such staunch criticism of their mentality after suffering embarrassing European exits to Real Madrid and most extraordinarily Barcelona in the previous two seasons, Mbappe teased supporters inside Anfield during his celebration as he turned to the Kop and projected his arms and chest out, before folding his arms in trademark fashion.
Liverpool, though, would have the last laugh as Roberto Firmino, shortly after being sent on by Klopp - just days after suffering a horrific eye injury away at Tottenham Hotspur, was on hand to fire home a stoppage-time winner and send the French champions packing with nothing to show for their efforts on Merseyside.
And although it was Firmino's winner that prompted the most striking celebrations of the night, James Milner's stern first half challenge on Neymar Jr was not far behind in the rankings.
As is frequently the case wherever he takes to the field, Neymar found himself on the receiving end of boos and whistles when the travelling Kop descended on Parc des Prince for the clubs' second group stage encounter just eight weeks later.
Liverpool, however, would be outplayed in the French capital as the Brazilian ran the show, setting up Juan Bernat's opener before scoring his side's second of the evening. Similarly to the reverse fixture at Anfield, Milner would convert a spot-kick but his effort on the stroke of half-time wasn't enough to inspire a second half comeback.
But despite Neymar's encapsulating display, his showboating throughout appeared to anger members of the Liverpool squad as Andy Robertson was booked for a coming together with the Brazilian in the closing stages - which had occurred after the Scotland captain had taken a hasty swipe at the forward for his on-the-ball antics.
Though prior to that, he had failed to endear himself to Reds supporters as he appeared ignorant of the quality of Klopp's squad ahead of the 2018/2019 Premier League season.
When asked prior to the campaign kick-off who he thought would make the top four, Neymar shunned Liverpool from his selection.
“Who will win it? Woah that's difficult,” said Neymar in the summer of 2018. “It's very hard, very difficult, but Manchester City will win it.
“Second will be United, third is Chelsea. Fourth is Tottenham.” When pressed on the matter, Neymar confirmed “no Liverpool”.
Liverpool, ironically, would topple Neymar and Co just weeks later on their way to lifting a sixth European Cup in June 2019.
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