Timo Werner and Andre Trindade have both opened up about just how close they came to signing for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp

When Liverpool face Crystal Palace this weekend, supporters will be handed a reminder of a Reds transfer that could have been.

After missing out on Yan Diomande, Liverpool had looked into the possibility of signing Ismaila Sarr from the Eagles. A £50m enquiry was knocked back, before the Reds ultimately decided to retain Cody Gakpo and proceed with their existing options instead.

Of course, that was not the first time that Liverpool had considered making a move for Sarr. He was also on their transfer shortlist back in 2020, only for Reds bosses to decide to sign the late Diogo Jota from Wolves instead.

Sarr won’t feature against Liverpool on Sunday as he continues to struggle with a groin injury. But he is just one in a long line of players that the Reds have tried and failed to sign over the years.

And two of them have actually recently spoken out about just how close they were to moving to Anfield, only for a transfer to not materialise.

Before Liverpool signed Jota and first weighed up a move for Sarr, Timo Werner was instead their target of choice.

The Germany international had enjoyed the season of his life with RB Leipzig, returning 34 goals from 45 appearances in the 2019/20 campaign to cap off the most prolific four years with the club.

He was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool and had a £47.5m release clause in his contract. But with the Reds also contending with the financial ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic at the time, they were ultimately unable to follow through on their interest.

Consequently, Chelsea swooped in to sign the forward instead, with Werner going on to win the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and European Super Cup with the club.

However, he ultimately struggled at Stamford Bridge, scoring just 10 Premier League goals in his two seasons at the club before returning to RB Leipzig for just £25.3m.

Werner insists he has no regrets about signing for Chelsea over Liverpool at that time. However, looking back, he concedes that playing for the Reds under Jurgen Klopp would have arguably been a better fit for him as a player.

“I mean, in this time I had a lot of offers from different clubs and you always think afterwards ‘Would it be better there? What would happen if I went there?’” he admitted on The Late Run. “But in the end I'm pretty happy how it went.

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“I mean, winning the Champions League, I had a really, really good time at Chelsea. I made a lot of friends there.

“The two years I played there, every year we had like 70-75 games. We were all around the world. We won a lot of things.

“We also lost together. We stood in the Carabao Cup final twice, in the FA Cup final twice and we lost all of them. And that also makes something with you as a group…

“How it went in my career, Chelsea was the right choice. Afterwards, Tottenham was the right choice. I don’t regret anything.”

He continued: “We were talking about did I ever regret not going to Liverpool or a different team.

“I think that was the style that we played at Chelsea. Maybe it was not like the right style for me, but it was the right style for our team back in the day.

“So you always have to [think] is it right for me or is it right for a team? That was right for the team, maybe not the best thing for me.

“Maybe if I would play at Liverpool or a different team, I would have more of that, like these counter situations. I mean, that's the thing like do I regret it? Maybe, but not really.”

Meanwhile, three years later, Liverpool were in search of a new holding midfielder as they looked to revamp their midfield following the departures of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Again, they missed out to Chelsea in the transfer market as both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia opted to move to Stamford Bridge rather than sign for the Reds.

In the end, Liverpool brought in Wataru Endo from VfB Stuttgart in a £16.2m deal. But they had looked into signing another player prior to landing on the Japanese.

Andre Trindade, now of Wolverhampton Wanderers, was of serious interest to the Reds, only for the midfield to decide to stay put at Fluminense.

The Brazil international has now admitted that when he initially decided to see out the Copa Libertadores campaign with Fluminense, at the time he had never envisaged that Liverpool would make a move for his services.

But while he received a ‘life-changing’ offer from the Reds, he ultimately stayed true to his initial agreement with the Brazilian outfit following in-depth talks with manager Fernando Diniz.

“What exactly happened in that year, right, 2023 started and at the beginning of 2023 some proposals arrived,” Andre recalled on Felipe Melo TV. “Some offers of €15 million, €17 million or so. We chose to renew the contract at the start of 2023.

“I gave my word. We agreed that if I were to leave, I'd leave at the end of 2023 after the Copa Libertadores.

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“But in the middle of all that, from January to August, I was called up... Our team was playing very well and we didn't expect Liverpool to come with that offer.

"It really was an irresistible offer because it was 30 million pounds and I had the personal terms proposal with me. It wasn't even close to what I was earning at Fluminense. It was life-changing stuff.

“I talked a lot with Diniz. I told him, I said: 'Man, I'll only leave as we agreed. I'll only leave if the club comes and puts its foot down and says we have to sell for financial reasons.’

"But we inside were very convinced inside (at Fluminense) that we would reach that Libertadores (final). And I told him: 'I'll only leave if the club says it's impossible for me to stay. Guys, no we have to sell. It's a very good offer for us and we need to raise funds.'

"It's funny, in previous years Fluminense always had problems with salaries. It was always two months of late salary, but they managed to organise that. So in that time, in this period, it was when they managed to organise the salary issue and it makes a big difference...

"So that's what happened. Nothing beyond that. In football, we have to give an answer in one day because a big club like Liverpool isn't going to wait and they turned down the offer. And thank god at the end of the year, god blessed us and we were crowned with this title."

Andre would go on to help Fluminense win the Copa Libertadores in 2023, before later signing for Wolves in a £21m deal in August 2024.

The 25-year-old remained at Molineux this summer despite the West Midlands outfit’s relegation to the Championship, having signed a new contract back in May.

While Werner and Andre could both easily have ended up moving to Anfield if things had been different, Liverpool will ultimately have few regrets with neither player doing enough in the Premier League to make the Reds rue missing out on their signatures.