Liverpool's recent transfer history has more than a few painful misses, but the most striking ones all share the same shape. In August 2023, the club tabled a British record £111m offer for Moisés Caicedo, only for him to end up at Chelsea for £115m. Nabil Fekir came even closer to the door at Anfield, and the Liverpool list of near-misses does not stop there.
Caicedo and the deal that looked done
Jurgen Klopp even confirmed that the Caicedo deal had been done in a press conference, but the only issue was that Caicedo had given Chelsea his word months prior that he would sign for them. That is a brutal way to lose a player, especially after Liverpool had pushed to a British record level. It was not a case of hesitation from the buying club so much as a race Liverpool thought it had already won.
The same pattern shows up in other deals. Liverpool viewed Marc Guéhi as a long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk and agreed a cut-price £35m deal before the move collapsed. That story sits alongside the Caicedo one because the damage came late, after the work had already been done.
Fekir, Alves and the old problem
Fekir's move was one of those transfers that felt complete until it suddenly was not. He flew to Liverpool, passed his medical, had a shirt number picked out, and the contract was signed before the move collapsed at the eleventh hour. The exact reason for the collapse is unknown, which is part of why the story has lingered for so long.
Rafa Benitez had identified Dani Alves as the kind of full-back who could transform the right flank, and personal terms were agreed. Sevilla wanted £8m, Liverpool refused to pay, and instead spent £6.7m on Jermaine Pennant. That was a different sort of failure, less dramatic than Fekir or Caicedo, but it still points to a club missing a clear target at the decisive moment.
Liverpool finished 5th in the Premier League with 60 points, scored 63 league goals and conceded 53. They also collected 18 points in 8 Champions League matches. The wider picture is not that the club stopped being competitive, but that these transfers repeatedly fell apart when the finish line was in sight.
Caicedo, Fekir and Alves are the obvious examples, and they show why Liverpool's transfer near-misses remain a live conversation. The next big deal will not erase any of them, and the club's recent history already has enough evidence to keep the scrutiny going.
FAQ
Why do Liverpool keep missing out on major transfer targets?
This run of near-misses includes a British record £111m offer for Moisés Caicedo that was accepted, Nabil Fekir passing his medical before the move collapsed, and the club refusing Sevilla's £8m ask for Dani Alves. The pattern is less about one failed signing and more about deals breaking at the final stage.
Was the Moises Caicedo transfer actually done before he joined Chelsea?
Jurgen Klopp said the deal had been done in a press conference, but Caicedo had already given Chelsea his word months earlier that he would sign for them. Liverpool's British record £111m offer was accepted, and he eventually joined Chelsea for £115m.
What happened with Nabil Fekir's move to Liverpool?
Fekir flew to Liverpool, passed his medical, had a shirt number picked out and signed the contract before the move collapsed at the eleventh hour. The exact reason for the deal falling through is unknown.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →