Liverpool were linked with World Cup winner and £53m star for ages but never signed them

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Reflecting on his decision to snub Liverpool, Barry told Birmingham Live's Claret and Blue podcast: "Something appealed to me more about Man City than Liverpool at the time. When I go to the office of my agent, in that moment the president of Benfica called and said, 'We don't have a deal, you don't have permission to fly, so you need to stay.'"It's strange because I thought it was done.

Because if you sign for Liverpool, Benfica fans will be angry [with me].' At that time I said, 'OK, I stay.'"The office of my agent is near the airport and the agent gave me some impression, 'Let's go to the airport. When we arrive in Liverpool, maybe the president says yes.' I said, 'No, it's impossible to take the plane and fly to Liverpool.'"I was representing the national team and if I take this decision, I have a lot of problems with the national team, my club, so I decided to stay." His switch to Atletico Madrid in 2007 did little to silence ongoing speculation of a transfer to Anfield, but nothing advanced as close as it had a year prior.Julian DraxlerThe former Germany international is another footballer familiar to Liverpool supporters.

"When I was still very young at Schalke and extended my contract, I could have gone to Arsenal," he told BILD, as quoted by Sport Witness."Honestly, I'd be interested to see what would have become of me if I had learned from Arsene Wenger so early. I've also wondered what would have happened if I hadn't gone from Wolfsburg to Paris, but to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.