James Pearce has been discussing Liverpool transfers that never happened in his latest article for The Athletic, and the most interesting one was the Reds’ move for Alex Teixeira.
Back in 2016, the Brazilian was targeted as the first major signing for Jurgen Klopp.
Would Teixeira have been a good signing for Liverpool?
Yes
No
Liverpool made a bid of £24.6m for the forward, and a member of the board flew out to Florida to sort a deal out.
Shakhtar Donetsk responded by asking for £40m for Teixeira, and the Reds pulled the plug on the deal, but it was not FSG.
It was instead Klopp who decided that the player was not worth it.
Teixeira instead moved to China, where he has played his football ever since.
Here’s exactly what James Pearce had to say:
“In January 2016, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Alex Teixeira was pinpointed as the first major signing of the Klopp era.
Liverpool tabled an offer of £24.6 million for the Brazilian forward and Ayre flew out to try to wrap up a deal at the Ukrainian club’s warm weather training camp in Florida. Shakhtar responded by demanding £40 million. At the time FSG came under fire for not backing Klopp sufficiently but the truth was that the manager pulled the plug himself, insisting Teixeira didn’t merit that kind of price tag, and Ayre flew home.
The following week, Teixeira joined Chinese Super League outfit Jiangsu Suning for £40 million. Four years on, he’s still there having scored 63 goals in 133 matches.”
What do we think?
When the Reds were after Teixeria, he had scored 25 goals and provided four assists, and he was hot property.
A move to Anfield looked almost certain, but then Klopp pulled the plug, and Teixeira followed the money to China.
Since he moved there, he has scored 63 goals and provided 38 assists, but he is now 30, and it is unlikely that any club in a top European league would take him.
Teixeira, who is now valued at £15.3m by Transfermarkt, ultimately missed his chance of playing for a big club in a top league.
Liverpool have won the Champions League and are on course to win the Premier League since they missed out Teixeira, and though they might have been disappointed at the time, the decision to not take Teixeira to Anfield has proven to be correct.