What if, what if… We all know the importance and the legacy Mohamed Salah has created over the years at Anfield, but it could have been a whole different story if Liverpool scouts hadn’t made Jurgen Klopp change his mind back in the day.”Jurgen’s preferred option for that summer was Julian Brandt, who was a great player,” said former Liverpool director of research Ian Graham, who spoke to BBC Sport as part of a documentary regarding Liverpool’s Champions League triumph in the 2018-19 season.Crazy to me that Klopp wanted to sign Brandt in 2017 but Michael Edwards persuaded him to sign Salah.Unfortunately Brandt’s body will never allow him to fulfil his true potential pic.twitter.com/uIZerFkgGN— Dougie Critchley (@DougieCritchley) May 2, 2022 “Jurgen had obviously known him very well, coming from the Bundesliga, and knew the German market very well.”We agreed that Brandt was a very good young player but not a standout in the same way that Mo was. From our data analysis point of view, Mo was the best young wide forward in Europe, full stop.”Roma were under pressure to sell because their finances were not in a good place, so we knew he was available for a good price.”He played a forward and wide role that we needed to fill at the time, whereas Brandt was more of an attacking midfielder.”##NAJAVA_MECA_8823629##Graham explained what was the decisive moment in recruiting Mo Salah: “It’s to Jurgen’s credit that he engaged in that debate in an honest way with his eyes open to say, ‘OK, I’m open to being convinced, show me that Mo is better’.”And, apparently, scouts did show him some serious numbers, which led to his change of mind. The rest is history, as they say.He has scored 243 goals and registered 109 assists for the club in 393 appearances and, under Klopp, helped the Reds win the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup.I will be there, says Klopp about returning to LiverpoolIn Klopp, Graham said they had found the “missing piece” and, in some cases, “a manager who seemed to see what the data saw”.He added: “He [Jurgen] is very happy to thank us for our suggestions to have stopped some of the less sensible signings, which at the time caused big arguments but, in retrospect, he could see this was a good process for signing players.”
