Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool’s choice of Mohamed Salah over Julian Brandt in 2017 shows managers don’t always get their way. Jurgen Klopp initially targeted his compatriot but eventually bought Salah for $45 million.
The Reds boss initially wanted to bring the then Bayer winger to the Premier League, but Liverpool opted for the Egyptian instead. Despite a transfer offer of $32 million, Brandt turned down Liverpool’s offer. Despite his struggles at Chelsea, Salah has enjoyed great success at Liverpool.
The 31-year-old has won numerous trophies and broken many records, including the Premier League and Champions League. Carragher discussed who should have a say in player recruitment in an episode of Stick to Football. He joins Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and Gary Neville. They debated whether to use data-driven transfer trading with their recruiting team or whether market activity should be monitored by those on the track.
Carragher said on the Stick to Football podcast: “Mohammed Salah was exciting when he first arrived. Jurgen Klopp has spoken publicly about this. He didn’t want to sign him, he wanted to sign Julian Brandt.
Liverpool tried to sign Salah before he went to Chelsea and the people behind the scenes at Liverpool were still there and Salah went to Rome and they were convinced that they had to sign the player. As you can see from what Mohamed Salah did, it could be the other way around.“I don’t think a manager should buy every player, but he shouldn’t put players under pressure. I don’t think managers should be able to do whatever they want. When I watch Manchester United, I worry. It’s like he (Erik Ten Haag) bought every player he knew’ and played almost 200 games.
According to Brandt, a move to Anfield is “not a good idea”. “I had the opportunity to take the next step to go to Liverpool but the time wasn’t right for me,” he told The Athletic in 2023. “I knew they were also chasing Mo Salah. It’s a shame because I wanted to play for Kloppo,” he said.
