According to reports, Liverpool ‘proposed’ a swap deal to Manchester City last year, though this fell through for one reason.
Liverpool and Man City have dominated this era of the Premier League, with the title not won by another club since Chelsea in 2016/17.
Man City won the Premier League four years in a row between 2020 and 2024, though Liverpool ended their reign at the summit last season and looks well-placed to win back-to-back titles.
Ahead of last season, it has emerged that Liverpool tried to do business with Man City to boost their title chances.
According to The Telegraph, Liverpool ‘proposed’ a swap deal to Man City after discovering that Luis Diaz ‘wanted’ a move to the Etihad.
In return, Liverpool wanted to sign Julian Alvarez, though this potential transfer did not accelerate.
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Instead, Diaz remained at Liverpool for the 2024/25 campaign and enjoyed a superb end to the season.
Diaz was linked with an exit for most of the summer window amid interest from Barcelona, PSG and the Saudi Pro League, though the idea of the winger signing a new contract to commit his future to Liverpool beyond 2027 was not ruled out.
However, Liverpool decided to cash in on Diaz as he entered the final year of his contract, with a £65.5m deal struck with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
Alvarez, meanwhile, did leave during the 2024 summer window as Man City sold the versatile attacker to Atletico Madrid in a deal worth around £82m.
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The report from The Telegraph has broken down why the Diaz and Alvarez swap deal fell through and how Liverpool ‘responded’.
‘Liverpool realised Luis Díaz wanted to go to Manchester City. The recruitment team proposed Díaz might move to the Etihad in exchange for Julián Alvarez.
‘“We don’t sell to rivals,” City responded, killing the idea. “Neither do we then,” was Liverpool’s pithy response.’
Without Alvarez, Liverpool have paid a British record transfer fee to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United, though head coach Arne Slot has revealed that he is planning to ease him in.
“Don’t expect him [Isak] to be [playing] every single game 90 minutes on the pitch as that is definitely not going to happen in the upcoming weeks,” Slot said.
“He missed a proper preseason, I think he missed three or four months of team sessions, and so now we have to build him up gradually, with us playing so many games, hardly any trading time.
“So that’s going to be a challenge, but we’ve signed him not only for the upcoming two weeks, we’ve signed him for six years, so, yeah, this is what we have to keep in mind.
“And what the fans have to keep in mind, if they see that I take him off at a certain moment, or I only bring him in for a small amount of minutes, that’s all for the long-term fitness of the team.”