Liverpool finally landed Mohamed Salah on this very day back in 2017, but only after eyeing up 15 alternatives.
The Egyptian forward has cemented his status as a Liverpool legend in the five years since, having gone on to score a whopping 156 goals in 254 appearances for the Reds in addition to firing the club to seven pieces of silverware. Few could have anticipated the impact the winger would make after he joined from Roma in a bargain £36.9million deal, though Liverpool themselves had long hoped they would one day secure his services in order to find out.
The Reds missed out on his signature three years previous as Premier League counterparts Chelsea swooped for the Basel star. Astonishingly, Liverpool then went on to scout a staggering number of alternatives before eventually capturing their man in 2017.
According to The Times, the Reds identified 15 other options capable of playing out wide between missing out on Salah and his arrival at Anfield three years' later. In that time, the likes of head of scouting and recruitment, Dave Fallows, chief scout, Barry Hunter, and revered sporting director, Michael Edwards, were all sent on spying missions in order to unearth a player in a similar mould to Salah, who could succeed in Klopp's system.
However, come the summer of 2017 when he did eventually sign, the Egyptian wasn't even first choice. Liverpool only ended up turning their attentions to the Roma star after three other avenues had been exhausted.
At the time, Borussia Dortmund refused to allow Christian Pulisic to depart, 18 months before Chelsea struck a deal for the American. Julian Brandt, the player who would later replace Pulisic at Dortmund, opted to remain with Bayer Leverkusen over joining Klopp's Reds revolution.
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The third preferred option was Brandt's fellow German international Julian Draxler. However, the versatile midfielder elected to join Paris Saint-Germain from Wolfsburg in January of 2017 instead.
As it transpired, those decisions played to Liverpool's advantage as they ultimately led to the signing of Salah for bargain fee that summer. Following his unveiling, the forward expressed his delight at having signed, and immediately declared his intentions of helping the Reds "win something".
“I’m very excited to be here. I’m very happy," Salah stated. "I will give 100% and give everything for the club. I really want to win something for this club.
“We have a great team and very good players. I was watching the games last year and everyone was giving 100% to win something. Everyone can see the coach gives everything. I hope to see that together we can give everything to win something for the club, for the supporters and for us.”
Not only would Salah go on to win "something" but he would help inspire Liverpool to one of the most successful eras in the club's rich history. The 30-year-old, who has gone on to form one-third of the Reds' famous front three alongside Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, has played an integral role in a stunning string of success, which has included the club's sixth European Cup and a first English top-flight title in 30 years.
Remarkably, it could have been oh-so different had Liverpool scooped someone else instead of Salah. Perhaps everything does happen for a reason after all.
