Jürgen Klopp wanted Leroy Sane in 2016. According to MailOnline’s rundown of Liverpool’s lost pursuits, the German winger even admitted he had held talks with the then Liverpool manager before choosing Manchester City in a deal worth up to £46.5m.
Ilkay Gundogan was another Klopp target that summer. He signed for City from Borussia Dortmund for £21m. Seven years earlier, when Rafael Benitez was in charge at Anfield, Liverpool had looked at Stevan Jovetic but were told there was no money to make an offer; he eventually joined City from Fiorentina in July 2013 for £22m.
Those names sit at the heart of an argument now echoing around English football: how many of Liverpool’s biggest misses between 2009 and 2018 were lost to a squad bankrolled in a way an independent commission has now ruled was against the Premier League’s own rules.
The verdict and the shortlist
The three-person independent commission found Manchester City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League, covering seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18. The club was cleared on just one count.
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Potential sanctions range from a reprimand and a fine to points deductions and even expulsion under the Premier League handbook. Points deductions can be applied retrospectively, which has reopened the debate over whether City’s titles from the guilty years can stand.
MailOnline’s list of ten targets Liverpool lost spans the full span of that period:
- Gareth Barry, 2009, £12m from Aston Villa
- Carlos Tevez, 2009, £25.5m from Manchester United
- David Silva, 2010, up to £30m from Valencia
- Gael Clichy, 2011, £7m from Arsenal
- Scott Sinclair, 2012, £8m from Swansea
- Stevan Jovetic, 2013, £22m from Fiorentina
- Leroy Sane, 2016, up to £46.5m from Schalke
- Ilkay Gundogan, 2016, £21m from Borussia Dortmund
- Benjamin Mendy, 2017, £52m from Monaco
- Aymeric Laporte, 2018, £57m from Athletic Bilbao
The pattern cuts across managerial eras at Anfield. Benitez chased Jovetic, Brendan Rodgers wanted Sinclair from Swansea, and Klopp held talks with both Sane and Gundogan before each chose the Etihad.
Carragher: ‘take them off their list’
Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports that the trophies City lifted during the guilty years should not stand.
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“I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list.”
The former Liverpool defender also turned on the ownership at the Etihad.
“I don’t know how the owners can continue in English football. Until they move away from the club, I don’t know how this stain is removed.”
Carragher said he felt for current City players, none of whom were at the club during the period under investigation.
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“I’d be furious and I actually feel for the Man City players. I’d be absolutely furious that around the world people are looking at my career like that because of what’s going on upstairs.”
The compensation queue
Liverpool are one of four clubs that moved to protect financial claims against City before the verdict landed. Alongside Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham, the Reds filed arbitration notices in late 2024 to keep open the right to seek damages if City were found to have broken the rules.
Rival clubs are expected to argue losses tied to Premier League titles, Champions League qualification and the matchday and commercial income that comes with it. The combined bill, according to that reporting, could run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
Manchester City deny the breaches and have lodged an appeal. The appeal will be heard by a separate committee, and no points deductions, title revisions or financial penalties can be imposed until that process is complete.
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