Liverpool almost signed ideal Arne Slot midfielder for $77m last summer

Martin Zubimendi might have opted to remain at Real Sociedad but he isn't the only player to have come to the conclusion that rejecting Liverpool could be the best thing for his career.

The circumstances are different in each case, but Liverpool has chased the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni (who opted for Real Madrid in 2022) and Moises Caicedo (who only wanted Chelsea in 2023) before. The money has never been an issue, as Caicedo in particular showed, but the individual player's desire has stopped a move from happening.

The case of Romeo Lavia last summer could have been different. He was another who wanted Chelsea over Liverpool, with the Reds having been willing to pay the money Southampton wanted in the end.

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Lavia, though, chose to join the Stamford Bridge side and Liverpool had to make other plans, turning, ultimately, to Wataru Endo. The Japanese captain was a stop-gap of sorts, though he was handed a four-year contract, and he plugged the gap. Now, however, Arne Slot could do with a more permanent solution.

Zubimendi looked to be the answer. Liverpool was willing to pay the money — the player has a release clause of $66m (£51m/€60m) — but after days of deliberating, La Real's tugging at the heartstrings proved too much to let go.

The pursuit of Zubimendi — a more ball-playing and technical player than Liverpool has looked at before in position, it has been said a few times this week — is interesting. That, clearly, is the type of profile that the Reds would want.

But the previous moves made in recent times have also been for more technical, passing players. It is too simplistic to say that Zubimendi is a player that suits Slot, but that Jurgen Klopp would have gone for something else.

Klopp, after all, spent most of last season playing Alexis Mac Allister as the deepest-lying player — something that Slot might have to continue with if no Zubimendi alternative is found. You don't get many midfielders with better technical ability than the Argentine.

Tchouameni, though he might also have been deployed as a number eight, is another who is not exclusively a 'destroyer' type midfield player. Far from it, in fact, and the same can be said of Caicedo.

In the case of Lavia, that is even more extreme. The 20-year-old former Manchester City ace is exceptional at receiving the ball under pressure and turning away in tight areas. He progresses the ball from deep in the exact way that Slot wants from his number six and impressed for his previous club by taking risks. The theory was that he just needed better players around him to make those come off.

We have yet to see that at Chelsea while at Southampton there was a limited sample size — and of course, at 20, Lavia still has lots of growing to do. But having lost out on the transfer of the then-teenager a year ago today (despite agreeing a deal worth $77m/£60m/€70m), according to Sky Sports), Liverpool missed out on buying someone who would have been ideal for the role moving forward.

Under Slot, Lavia could have grown — alongside Stefan Bajcetic — into the perfect candidate for the position. Instead, while he attempts to make an impact among the masses of options at Chelsea, Liverpool will have to look elsewhere.

Tchouameni would have been brilliant and Caicedo could have thrived back alongside Mac Allister. Lavia, though, is another who fits the profile that Slot wants at Liverpool.