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The pair set tongues wagging after posing for a picture with legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo.

While De Bruyne and Van Dijk have been long-term adversaries on the pitch, having spent the past seven and a half years battling for the biggest honours for Man City and Liverpool, the two are well-known to be close friends.

To the extent that the Dutchman could not resist a playful jibe at De Bruyne and Man City when paying tribute to the Belgian ahead of his Man City exit last month.



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“Kevin is a special, special player, has special qualities,” the Dutchman said in a compilation of video tributes put together by Sky Sports.

"I really wish him the best - and we have a space for him!"

Liverpool were then even directly linked with De Bruyne, with reports in May - that were knocked down by ECHO sources - suggesting that the Reds had made an offer to the Belgian’s representatives.

The ECHO understood that that was not the case, with Liverpool’s recruitment team instead training their sights elsewhere to improve Arne Slot’s Premier League title-winning squad.

Sure enough, that quickly materialised.

Fast forward little over six weeks and De Bruyne is now a Napoli player following his Etihad exit, while both the Reds and Man City have signed new attacking midfielders of their own.

Liverpool completed the club-record signing of Florian Wirtz in a deal worth up to £116m on Friday following three weeks of negotiations, while City landed Rayan Cherki for an initial £30.45m fee from Lyon ahead of their participation in the FIFA Club World Cup.

City had been long-term suitors of Wirtz, only to withdraw their interest and switch attention to Cherki.

While they would claim at the time it was for financial reasons, it soon became clear that the Reds had stolen a march for the German’s signature with a persuasive pitch that also left previous favourites to sign him, Bayern Munich, disappointed.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Liverpool had also held talks of their own with Cherki after Slot met with the France international.

But, as the ECHO reported, such a meeting had been scheduled before the pursuit of Wirtz ramped up considerably ahead of Liverpool's Premier League finale at home to Crystal Palace, and both the club and Slot wanted to honour the arrangement.

Instead, Cherki was one of a number of backup options had Wirtz not been receptive to the approach from the Reds - with City ultimately instead left pursuing the Frenchman.

But could De Bruyne have also been one of those backup options?

The Athletic reports that there was a ‘short conversation’ with Liverpool as the Belgian weighed up his future, partly motivated by a desire to ‘prove City wrong’ for letting him leave.

They also claim there ‘are conflicting accounts of who approached who’ - the Reds or De Bruyne’s camp.

While De Bruyne wants to prove City wrong, Liverpool very clearly set their sights on Wirtz after deciding to move for a new attacking midfielder.

The Reds did not make an offer to De Bruyne and regardless of who instigated transfer talks, spending £116m on a different player speaks volumes when it comes to their own transfer intentions.

When Liverpool were first linked with De Bruyne, the ECHO reported that the Reds were mindful of the age of their squad which already contains a number of players in their thirties - including both Van Dijk and Salah who had just signed new contracts.

A 33-year-old De Bruyne would not have aided the situation, but signing a 22-year-old Wirtz clearly would.

Rather than sign the Premier League’s leading playmaker of the past decade on a free transfer, Liverpool instead broke the British transfer record to bring in a player they hope will inherit that leading man status for the next decade - and the one City initially wanted to succeed De Bruyne in the first place.

Talks with the Belgian might have taken place, and while some Kopites might have cheekily liked the idea of the Reds signing their title-rivals’ star player, Liverpool were always likely to think more long-term.

They only need to look to bitter-rivals Manchester United for the perils of a short-term approach.

For example, in the summer of 2012, after missing out on the title to Man City and ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season, the Red Devils signed a 29-year-old Robin van Persie from rivals Arsenal in a £24m deal that sent shockwaves around the Premier League.

The Dutchman ended up scoring 26 Premier League goals that season to help fire United to the title, winning the Golden Boot in the process.

But Van Perise would struggle to recapture such heights following that maiden campaign after finding himself on the wrong side of 30, scoring 22 Premier League goals over the next two seasons combined as he struggled with injuries and United floundered.

He would then leave for a paltry £3.84m in the summer of 2015 to Fenerbahce as a now floundering Red Devils looked to offload him.

Since the striker helped United win the Premier League in 2013, they have been a constant post-Ferguson downfall and haven’t been crowned champions since - leading Liverpool to equal their record total of 20 league titles last season.

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While there might have been short-term gain in the Reds signing De Bruyne from their rivals, as United did with Van Persie all those years ago, sometimes it is better to look at the bigger picture.

Sure, Liverpool could have signed De Bruyne on a free transfer.
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