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Liverpool

Liverpool football club has once more come away empty handed in manager Brendan Rodgers pursuit of landing a world-class winger to help with the clubs goal of securing a Champions League finish this season.

After not being able to sign Basel winger Mohamed Salah earlier in the transfer window due to Chelsea outbidding the Reds at the last minute, Liverpool throughout all the stops to sign Ukrainian international Yevhen Konoplyanka.

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre together with a team that included medical staff flew to Ukraine knowing that this was their last opportunity to sign a quality player for the club this transfer window.

After hours of negotiations Liverpool agreed to meet Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk’s  £16 million valuation of the player , but met another road block when the Ukrainian’s asked for the money to be paid in one lump sum rather than in instalments which is the common practice between clubs these days.

Then just when it appeared everything was agreed Dnipro’s president, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, refused to sanction the player’s release which meant that Liverpool had once more come up empty handed.

Kolomoyskyi is a multi-billionaire and is on the list of Forbes 50 richest people in the world which means he was never under any financial pressure to sell the clubs best player, and now despite the fact Konoplyanka wanted to sign for Liverpool he will remain in the Ukraine at least until next summer.

When talking to the press after the deal had fallen through the Guardian newspaper quotes Rodgers as saying: “It certainly hasn’t been because of a lack of work by the football club. There are lots of people who have worked tirelessly to identify and find the right types of players. A lot of those players haven’t been able to become available for us.

“Of course, as a manager you would like to have strengthened – but I’m very optimistic with the group of players I still have available here. If we can keep those players fit, and maximise the availability for the rest of the season, we can have a great chance to have a really good finish.”

 

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