'Jürgen Klopp wanted to sign Julian Brandt instead of Mo Salah'
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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has revealed the record-breaking exploits of Mohamed Salah at Merseyside may never had happened had Jürgen Klopp had his way.
In 2017, Klopp was looking to build on a promising opening 18 months at Liverpool, and made Julian Brandt his top transfer target.
The Reds boss even preferred Brandt over Salah, who had been rebuilding his career in Italy with AS Roma, following a disastrous spell at Chelsea.
Klopp has been a long-time admirer of Brandt's talent, dating back to his days at Bayer Leverkusen.
He sees the German midfielder's versatility, technical prowess, and attacking instincts as a perfect fit for his gegenpressing style.
However, Brandt, who had just turned 21 at the time, opted to stay at Leverkusen, prioritising playing time ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Salah completed his £39 million switch from Roma to Merseyside, and the rest is history.
Speaking to Stick to Football podcast, Carragher has admitted that Salah was indeed a signing of [former sporting director] Michael Edwards.
When he initially came in, an interesting one was Mohammed Salah and Jürgen Klopp is open about this. He didn't want to sign him, he wanted Julian Brandt.
Liverpool had tried to sign Salah before he went to Chelsea and the people behind the scenes at Liverpool were still there and Salah then went to Roma, and they were very adamant that they had to sign this player.
You look at what Mohammed Salah has done, but it could have easily gone the other way.
Liverpool's bit of business appears to have been the correct decision with the Egyptian winger leading the Reds to Champions League and Premier League glory.
Brandt, meanwhile, eventually joined Borussia Dortmund in 2019 and despite some good performances, he has ultimately failed to live up to the hype.
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