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Manchester United midfielder Sofyan Amrabat was close to joining Liverpool before his Old Trafford transfer got over the line.
Amrabat was signed on deadline day as a late recruit by United.
After weeks of negotiation with Fiorentina, the Serie A giants eventually budged and accepted a £8.5m loan fee from the Red Devils.
There is an option to make the deal permanent for £21.4m next summer.
He finally made his debut for United during the 1-0 victory against Burnley at Turf Moor when he came on from the bench during the final minutes of the game.
According to The Daily Mail’s Chris Wheeler, Erik ten Hag’s side nearly lost out on the Moroccan’s services because of heavy interest in him from Liverpool.
The Merseyside outfit flirted around with the idea of bringing Amrabat to Anfield but when negotiations failed to materialize, they turned their attention to Ryan Gravenberch.
Wheeler says, “It’s emerged that Amrabat was just hours away from becoming a Liverpool player this summer.”
“Jurgen Klopp is said to have phoned the 27-year-old midfielder personally to try and persuade him to move to Anfield from Fiorentina to help fill the gaps left by Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner.”
“United Confidential can reveal that Klopp was a whisker away from getting his man until a last-minute hitch held up the deal and Liverpool signed Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich for £34.2million instead.”
It’s believed that the reason for Amrabat’s Liverpool transfer collapsing originated from the player’s camp.
Talks between the United star and Liverpool were put on hold for 24 hours and it was during this time that Liverpool decided to swoop in for Gravenberch.
Amrabat’s desire to join United was a major contributing factor in facilitating a switch to the Theatre of Dreams. He rejected multiple parties to make his dream of playing for the 20-time English champions come true.