During Roy Evans' tenure as Liverpool manager, the Reds played amazing attacking football, and from 1995-1997, put in strong challenges for the Premier League title. Alas, defensively, the club just wasn't up to scratch, and it wasn't until Gerard Houllier arrived that LFC's defence truly began to improve. Evans recently revealed that he attempted to sign Argentine legend Gabriel Batistuta during his time in the Anfield hotseat, and it now transpires that he also tried to sign ex-Chelsea star Marcel Desailly.
In a recent interview, Evans - whose teams never finished outside the top four - told LiverpoolFC.com:
"When Marcel Desailly was moving, we tried to buy him.
"The only thing that stopped us was that he wanted to live in London - that was his biggest thing. I think he was interested in the football club but it didn't happen. You win some and you lose some."
Desailly signed for Chelsea in 1998, which meant he would've ultimately worked under Gerard Houllier, and whilst the World Cup winner would've been a superb signing for Liverpool, but perhaps it's a good thing that the Reds missed out?
Sami Hyypia arrived at the club in 1999, and it's possible that Houllier may not have pursed him with Desailly already in the team, and what an incalculable loss that would've been (!)
Fifteen years later, Evans' comments about Desailly preferring to live in London remain apt, and I'm sure that's one of the main reasons many northern-based Premier League clubs miss out on top players.
Unluckily for Desailly, he left Chelsea the year Jose Mourinho arrived, and missed out on Chelsea's double Premier League success. Indeed, after six years at Stamford Bridge, Desailly had only two major trophies to his name: the FA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
The ultimate irony is that Desailly would've won MORE trophies if he'd signed for Liverpool (!)
Jaimie Kanwar
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In a recent interview, Evans - whose teams never finished outside the top four - told LiverpoolFC.com:
"When Marcel Desailly was moving, we tried to buy him.
"The only thing that stopped us was that he wanted to live in London - that was his biggest thing. I think he was interested in the football club but it didn't happen. You win some and you lose some."
Desailly signed for Chelsea in 1998, which meant he would've ultimately worked under Gerard Houllier, and whilst the World Cup winner would've been a superb signing for Liverpool, but perhaps it's a good thing that the Reds missed out?
Sami Hyypia arrived at the club in 1999, and it's possible that Houllier may not have pursed him with Desailly already in the team, and what an incalculable loss that would've been (!)
Fifteen years later, Evans' comments about Desailly preferring to live in London remain apt, and I'm sure that's one of the main reasons many northern-based Premier League clubs miss out on top players.
Unluckily for Desailly, he left Chelsea the year Jose Mourinho arrived, and missed out on Chelsea's double Premier League success. Indeed, after six years at Stamford Bridge, Desailly had only two major trophies to his name: the FA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
The ultimate irony is that Desailly would've won MORE trophies if he'd signed for Liverpool (!)
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Even though I am too young to comment on this, but if it was Hyppia who was signed next I can say its better we didn't sign the Argentinean.
ReplyDeleteJamie when are you posting the predicted line up? I am waiting for your thread. Hopefully we can win and rub some chillies on ManUre's wounds. :P
Man U want it more than we do tonight and that's why I looks ominous. They will be deadly in the first 20 mintes - WE BETTER BE READY.
ReplyDeleteDesailly was a very good CB in PL, although Hyppia probably was better during their days in PL but at Milan, Desailly was a beast of defensive mid, even though he was probably a CB at heart.
ReplyDeleteAlways was a bit fun, as a football fan, to watch Chelsea bring in these well-known foreign players at that point like Desailly, Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Ferrer, Laudrup, etc. Will never forget Bogarde!
If Aspas really is a specialist striker, then that just makes his career goal-scoring record look even worse and the signing look like even more of a mistake.
ReplyDeleteYour argument makes no sense bro. Mistake or not, that's not the point. He's there now, so the best thing to do is to utilize him correctly. It's like the 4 CBs debacle. That is what I call unnecessary experimentation. BR just needs to deploy the players in the correct positions, where they can be the most effective. Aspas stands a much higher chance of scoring, playing up top than in the middle of the field...
ReplyDeleteWhat is good for Aspas and what is good for the team are two different things.
ReplyDeleteHe's lucky to be shoe-horned into the team at all, much less 'in his correct position'