Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool almost had a front line in all of Brazil with crucial Philippe Coutinho

Liverpool’s transfer market record has been near-perfect under Jurgen Klopp, and the German has relied on his team, scouts, and analysts to make the right calls.

From the cheap purchase of Mohamed Salah to the robbery that was Andy Robertson, Liverpool has transformed into a team that gets the right recruitment.

At times there have been howls of frustration, such as when £ 34 million was delivered to Southampton by Sadio Mane when it became clear that Mario Gotze was not a deal that could be carried out, but ultimately Klopp was shown to be right.

Brazilian striker Alex Teixeira is another example of that.

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Liverpool did not want to spend £ 38 million on the attacker in January 2016, even though he was 26 at the time He has already made it clear to his club, Shakhtar Donetsk, that he wanted to advance to the Premier League.

That price was not considered a good value, so Klopp and Liverpool disconnected.

Weeks later, with the January transfer window closed and Liverpool walking away from the deal, Teixeira traded Ukraine for China, signing with Jiangsu Suning for a record Asian fee of around € 50 million, a figure Liverpool was not prepared to approach. .

In the Analyzing Anfield podcast, it was discussed why Liverpool had identified the Brazilian as someone who would be a good acquisition for the right price, and also how the Reds’ tactics might have changed if he had arrived.

When David Hughes started: “To get an idea of ​​the player who was at the time in Ukraine, Teixeira scored 26 times in the middle of the season, something like 0.93 goals for 90.

“That is ridiculous because he was not a forward.”

“The caveat is that the standard is not as high as the Premier League, but they are still really high numbers.”

“He seemed to be playing at number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 and he was playing that offensive midfielder role.”

“Maybe they would have used it as the 10th, with Philippe Coutinho on the left, there are a lot of goals alone in that duo.”

“Certainly 4-2-3-1 was definitely the idea in the early stages of Klopp and I think you start to see that interest in 4-3-3 only later on.”

Teixeira turned 30 this year, and with a little bit of discussion about the age of Liverpool’s current frontline, who are in their last 20 years, that begs a question about their suitability as well, to a degree.

If the current front line needs regeneration, then Teixeira would certainly have accelerated that plan.

Josh Williams added: “He plays on the left, but he has two feet, and that perhaps influences why Liverpool was interested in him.”

“The man we ended up getting into Mane is also relatively two-foot and can play on both sides, so maybe that came into play.”

“At one point, he scored 22 goals and made three assists in 15 appearances.

“There were some penalties there, but that’s a goal or assist every 54 minutes.”

“Teixeira was basically a starting attacker, someone who can deliver no matter where he is playing.”

Teixeira started at the Rio de Janeiro club Vasco da Gama, like Coutinho, before moving to Europe.

And if Klopp’s initial plan had been developed, the two could have been together at Anfield.

Williams concluded: “I don’t think the focus was on where he would play, it was just a case of scoring goals.”

“The previous season, Teixeira had scored 17 goals in 22 top flight matches in Ukraine, making him clearly a goalscorer, despite not being a center forward.”

“Soon after, he moved to China, and that’s for me, at least, not a good sign.”

“It suggests that the player, and we all are to some extent, is motivated by money, rather than the prospect of improving and reaching peak performance.”

“But I am interested in how the tactical composition would have changed if we had signed it, but we would have had a full front of three Brazilians.”

Instead, Liverpool have a front line that includes Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino, so few will be disappointed by that.

With Coutinho split and not returning, Firmino is the only member of that planned Brazilian trio that is still in place.

The history of football often depends on the moments of sliding doors, and losing Teixeira paving the way to sign Mane was undoubtedly one of the most worthwhile.