Liverpool’s plans to sign a new midfielder remain on hold until 2023 following Jurgen Klopp’s recent defence of his current options in the engine room.
Following the signing of Fabio Carvalho, the German has nine senior options available at his disposal. However, that hasn't stopped supporters from urging the Reds to strengthen their hand further.
The fact that Liverpool are prepared to wait until summer has only fuelled speculation regarding their interest in Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham, with the England international expected to be allowed to move on at the end of the season. When Klopp was asked about the midfielder earlier this month, he didn’t deny the Reds’ interest despite pointing out why a deal would not be possible this summer.
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"He’s not on the market, so that’s the first problem with that player,” the German said. “Well, the only problem with that player!”
Recent reports have gone as far as claiming that Liverpool have enquired about Bellingham’s current availability, only to be knocked back by the Bundesliga outfit. But that won’t stop Kopites from dreaming that their club finds a way to land the 19-year-old.
Yet they felt rather differently when Liverpool tried to sign one midfielder 20 years ago. In contrast to Bellingham, the player in question was on the market, having been transfer-listed after rejecting a new contract, while the Reds would have a £9m bid accepted for his services.
But after negotiations dragged on, Liverpool ended up pulling the plug on the transfer in question, for a variety of reasons, on this day in 2002. The player in question was Leeds United star Lee Bowyer.
As Jamie Carragher would later reveal, Reds manager Gerard Houllier was a massive fan of the midfielder.
“Gerard Houllier loved Lee Bowyer. Adored him,” he revealed on Sky Sports in 2020. “He was someone he'd talk about in team meetings, talking about how good Lee Bowyer was. We actually tried to sign him and unfortunately for us it fell through.”
A star for the Whites at the time, he had proven himself to be a prolific goalscorer from midfield for Leeds, having netted 42 goals in the four seasons prior to Liverpool’s bid and impressed for the title-challenging side in both the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Yet after missing out on qualifying for the Champions League for the second-successive season, Leeds were in financial trouble and needed to raise funds. With Bowyer only having 12 months left on his contract, having rejected an extension said to be worth £39k a week, more than double his then wage of £18k a week, during the latter stages of the 2001/02 campaign, he was transfer-listed and available for a cut-price fee.
Liverpool had been linked with Bowyer for a number of years at the time, with reports in March 2002 claiming he had been spotted in a hotel in north Wales with Reds assistant manager Phil Thompson as speculation heated up.
With Terry Venables replacing David O’Leary, who had wanted the midfielder to stay at Elland Road, as Leeds manager on July 8, Liverpool soon made a bid for the then 25-year-old, and saw an offer worth an initial £7m, rising to £9m depending on appearances and England caps, accepted.
As a result, Bowyer underwent a medical at Melwood on July 16, and was expected to finalise his transfer ahead of a potential debut against Le Havre on July 19.
"He has been in talks with the club today and he underwent a medical this afternoon,” confirmed at the time after the midfielder met with manager Gerard Houllier and discussed personal terms. Meanwhile, club figures were quite open about their pursuit of the Bowyer, such was their confidence that he’d soon be moving to Anfield.
"Lee is a player we greatly admire. His football is top class, he scores goals from midfield and that is something we have been missing,” Thompson told the club’s website as negotiations continued. "We see him as being one of the top midfielders in the country.
''At this moment the transfer negotiations are ongoing with Leeds and the necessary people are talking. If a deal can be done then we will be more than happy.
"Lee has always scored goals throughout his career. The way he gets forward and scores goals from midfield is similar to the way Terry McDermott used to play. He has a knack of being in the right place at the right time when he gets into the box.
"Nothing has been finalised but discussions are ongoing. He has things in his game which we need and he can also weigh in with goals. He is a quality player."
Meanwhile, club captain Sami Hyypia said: “It could be good to have somebody who also has Premiership experience. Lee Bowyer is a good player. If you come as a big signing there is always a standard to live up to, but all the players we have brought in are good players and Lee is no different."
But as the week went on, Bowyer was still no closer to agreeing terms with the Reds, having rejected their £35k a week offer. The ECHO reported on July 17 that the club were confident of ironing out personal terms, believed talks with Houllier had gone well and that a compromise would be reached over the next 24 hours. But the following day the Frenchman would confirm negotiations were ongoing.
"The situation remains the same,” he said. “Talks are ongoing, but we have set no time limit on the matter." Yet, ahead of flying out on their pre-season training camp in Switzerland, it was clear Liverpool bosses were losing patience with the midfielder.
On July 21 the Reds would confirm they had pulled the plug on the transfer, releasing a statement on their official website questioning the player’s attitude throughout negotiations, with Houllier said to be unimpressed by the 25-year-old's refusal to lower his wage demands to match the Merseysiders' offer.
"Liverpool FC have decided not to go ahead with the proposed transfer of Lee Bowyer for a variety of reasons,” it read. "Manager Gerard Houllier was not convinced the player had either the hunger or desire to play for the club, qualities which are essential for any Liverpool player."
Bowyer would later reveal he was glad the transfer had collapsed.
“I never asked to go on the transfer list and made it clear to Peter Ridsdale that I had reservations when they accepted Liverpool’s bid,” he told Sky Sports News at the time. “So it is probably in the best interest of all parties that the deal did not go through.”
“The arrival of Terry Venables was also a major factor in my thinking that this was not the right time to be leaving Elland Road. With the players we have and with Venables as manager I genuinely believe we have an excellent chance of winning something this season.”
Meanwhile, Leeds chairman Ridsdale would insist the Whites hadn’t wanted to sell Bowyer in the first place, insisting it was "a bonus to have Lee back at the club" as they welcomed him back into the first team squad for their own pre-season preparations.
"He never said he did not want to play for us," he added. "The only reason he was placed on the transfer list was because he only had 12 months to run on his contract and we wanted to avoid him leaving under the Bosman ruling. He's a quality player and it will be like having an England international back in the squad for free."
Bowyer would later double down on his decision as he hit back at Liverpool’s claims about his conduct in negotiations.
"There's no question that if I'd have gone there [Liverpool] I wouldn't have given my all. That's the only way I know how to play," Bowyer insisted to the Independent in September 2002. "What happened was that the manager and chairman here asked me to go and talk to Liverpool, because Leeds had accepted a bid.
“So, I told them: 'Look, I'll go and speak to them, but if it doesn't seem right then I'm not going'. In the event, that was the case. It was no good going there if I felt iffy about it.”
“I don't play football for money," he retorted dismissively when asked if the only reason the move collapsed was because they failed to agree personal terms.
Meanwhile, Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry claimed he had “doubts about Bowyer from day one,” when writing in the programme for the Reds’ pre-season clash with Lazio in August 2002.
“We offered him a fantastic chance to relaunch his career and help him get back in the England squad,” he wrote. “The longer the discussions went on, the less convinced we were that the player had his heart set on joining us.
“We don’t want any tension or difficulties because a player is not committed. Togetherness has been one of the big things in our progress under Gerard (Houllier).
“We have a real desire to win trophies. At the end of the day, if that’s not enough to fire a player’s desire to join us, what is? If we sense any potential signing is not right we will walk away.
“With Bowyer it was down to sensing a lack of passion and the commitment of the player to join us. There was a gap between what we were offering and what the player wanted, that’s not unusual.”
Meanwhile, Thompson would lift the lid further on negotiations when his autobiography was released in 2005.
“We knew our move for Lee Bowyer would cause some controversy amongst our fans because of the off-field headlines he had been involved in. We knew our bid would cause a stir, but we thought it was a risk worth taking for the development of the team,” he wrote.
"Gerard offered Leeds £8m which was a lot of money and Bowyer came over to Merseyside to talk to us. He arrived with a mate and his agent. I had to take care of him in the players' lounge at Melwood where Bowyer and his pal played umpteen games of pool while the agent discussed terms with Gerard and Rick Parry.
"When that meeting broke up I asked how things had gone. The response surprised me. 'We are still far apart,' said Gerard. We thought Lee Bowyer would be keen to move on his career with a club like Liverpool and I thought a deal would be struck quickly.
"Rick said: 'We are still miles apart on the salary.' Bowyer left and a series of phone calls followed between the club and his agent. It finally appeared that we were close to agreeing a deal. We went as far as having his new kit numbered up in anticipation as we prepared to leave for our pre-season training camp in Switzerland.
“Some people were saying that we should not take Bowyer under any circumstances. Others said that he would be a good acquisition and would strengthen the team. As things moved on I rang the player and said: 'Get yourself ready. Once the deal is done and dusted we will fly you out to Switzerland.'
"He was saying 'Yeah, okay.' But there was no emotion from him to suggest that a deal was imminent. Rick and Gerard had another meeting with the agent, but they still failed to agree terms. I spoke to Bowyer again, once again asking him to be ready to travel should everything be sorted. His response was: 'I don't know where my passport is,' and added: 'I'm not in Leeds, I'm in London.' He was with Rio Ferdinand.
“By now the vibes were coming through loud and clear that he was just not sold on the club. We got to Switzerland where we were based in a beautiful hotel. We felt it was finally time to nail the Bowyer business one way or the other.”
He continued: “Rick and Gerard came into my room. Gerard rang up the player and started to say: “Lee, how are you doing? We must be near a deal now. We are offering you a good salary and it will be an important move for your career.
“Bowyer replied that he would not bend on what he was asking for. Gerard was saying: “What we are offering you is the same as one of the top players at our club.” It turned out that Bowyer was still in London, having made no attempt to get his stuff together should he be required to fly out.
“Rick had a quick word with him. He came off the phone and said: “It’s clear that he just doesn’t want to do the deal. I said: “The boy’s response has made it clear that he doesn’t want to play for this club. It’s as if he’s pricing himself out of it.”
“I likened it to a tradesman who had tons of work on. He’s happy to talk to potential customers, but pitches the price sky high. If that work comes through he is happy to do it. If not, he just sits back. I said: 'This is all wrong. It's clear he is not committed to us and this must be getting through to our fans. To me, we need to pull it before Lee Bowyer and his agent come back and say the move is not right for them.'
"Rick and Gerard decided that we would tell the Press that night. I couldn't believe Lee Bowyer had not jumped at the chance to play for Liverpool FC. Better players than him would have walked all the way to Anfield. We had made a big commitment on our side, but it had been all one way.
"His career went down the pan after that. He was at West Ham for a while and was lucky, in my opinion, to revive his career at Newcastle. Everyone then witnessed what happened there and when Birmingham tried to buy him, the move collapsed because of fierce opposition from fans who organised a petition urging the club to drop their interest. In the end it was the right decision for us to move forward without Bowyer."
Six months after his move to Liverpool fell through, Bowyer would end up signing for West Ham on a short term contract, with Leeds desperate to get him off the books as their financial plight worsened. Following the Hammers’ relegation that season, he would sign for Newcastle, before returning to West Ham in 2006 and then finishing his career with stints at Birmingham City, who, despite previous fan protests, reignited their interest to sign him in 2009, and Ipswich Town.
And while the move to Liverpool was not one Bowyer wanted at the time back in 2002, he now considers it the biggest regret of his career, not completing his move to Anfield.
"That still hurts. Yeah, I was very close, I was halfway through a medical,” he recalled to Sky Sports in 2020. “I don’t know (why it didn’t happen). It just didn’t feel right at the time. If I’m honest, it’s probably my biggest regret in football, not going to Liverpool at that time.
“Looking back now, if I could turn the clock back, I would definitely have gone. But it just didn’t feel right for me at the time and that was the decision I made. Looking back, it was the wrong one I think.
"I was thinking 'This is even further than where I am from' and I was thinking 'do I want to live even further away from home?' Then you hear rumours behind the scenes of it being strict and you can't even talk in the warm-up. You can't do this and you can't do that.
"And I was thinking to myself 'do I want to go there?' In the end, something just didn't sit right with me and I just thought it wasn't the right place to be for me."
He continued: “I knew that my time was coming to an end at Leeds. There were a few things happening behind the scenes that didn’t sit well with me and I knew it was my time to go. I thought I was going to do another five years up north, long way away from my family, and I had just done six years with Leeds. I don’t know, there were a few things that didn’t feel right.
“After that, I went to Newcastle which was even further away and made absolutely no sense. I don’t know why, it just didn’t feel right and that was a mistake I made. I think I would have fitted in well (at Liverpool) and it disappoints me. Looking back now, I should have made that move but you make decisions and that's what makes you the person you are."
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