Sofyan Amrabat’s agent had a secret meeting with former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp at the beginning of 2023 before Manchester United secured his signature instead
Sofyan Amrabat could have potentially joined Liverpool at the start of 2023 after his agent had a secret meeting with then-boss Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp was on the hunt for upgrades to his midfield as he had been relying the aging Thiago, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho. Young stars like Harvey Elliot and Curtis Jones were coming through the ranks at Anfield, but the German was planning on adding some fresh faces to the squad.
A shortlist of players was drawn up as potentials to join Liverpool, with Jude Bellingham at the top of the list. However, the England international was destined to head for Real Madrid, so Klopp turned to his other options – one of which included Amrabat.
The Morrocan had impressed at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at the time that Klopp contacted his agent, with several sides showing an interest in signing him. Manchester United were one such club who were interested, as well as La Liga giants Barcelona.
However, the midfielder had to wait until the summer for his move, as then-United boss Erik ten Hag utilised his previous relationship with the now 28-year-old from working together at Utrecht to his advantage. Amrabat joined United on loan from Fiorentina during that summer.
Klopp, meanwhile, attempted to sign Southampton’s Romeo Lavia and Brighton’s Moises Caicedo – but both of them rejected the Reds to head to league rivals Chelsea. His first addition in the middle of the park was Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for an initial £35million, potentially rising to £55m.
The following month in July, Dominik Szoboszlai arrived from RB Leipzig in a £60m deal before Wataru Endo, costing £16m, followed in August. And then after Lavia and Caicedo’s respective snubs, Ryan Gravenberch was signed from Bayern Munich on Deadline Day for a fee in the region of £34m.
These signings have turned out to be diamonds for Liverpool, as new manager Arne Slot has led the team to the top of both the Premier League and Champions League table, with the Reds on course for more silverware glory this season.
On the other hand, Amrabat wasn’t so lucky with his time in England. He initially struggled with injury at Old Trafford before failing to impress in his 30 appearances for United. He spent just one season in Manchester before making another temporary move to Fenerbahce last summer.
He has since joined the Turkish club for a fee of £10m and has made 13 appearances so far, scoring two goals and assisting just once. In 2024, Klopp spoke out about his trouble signing midfielders for Liverpool during his time in the Premier League, and admitted that the Reds’ shrewd spending actually worked out in their favour.
The current Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull said: “We were interested in Bellingham, realised it would not happen and we thought we could maybe do Caicedo so went in… [but] he had an emotional agreement already with Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino. Then Lavia had his own reasons – so we were there. Then we found our top solution.
“We found Wataru [Endo], we already knew Macca [Mac Allister] could play the position and Dom [Szoboszlai] was always on my radar. If one of the £100million [signings] had worked, there’s no chance to do another. That’s what I meant when I said we are so lucky. Everything in the ‘if not scenario’ worked out.”
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