Ian Graham has named the one player he’d have loved for Liverpool to sign more than any other during his time with the club.
The Reds’ former Director of Research has just released a book – ‘How to Win the Premier League’ – which reflects on his spell at Anfield between 2012 and 2023.
He gave a wide-ranging interview to The Athletic and looked back on his ‘biggest regret’ in terms of a player he’d wanted to bring in but who ultimately ended up at a direct Premier League rival.
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In 2013, Liverpool were in prolonged talks over a possible move for Diego Costa and tried to activate his £21m release clause at Atletico Madrid, but the Spain international penned a new contract for Diego Simeone’s side before joining Chelsea a year later.
Refelcting on what could have been at Anfield, Graham said: “Can you imagine a Liverpool front line of Luis Suarez and Diego Costa? It would have been filthy! As it was, Costa ended up joining Chelsea the following year.”
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It’s not hard to see why Graham would’ve loved to see Costa joining Liverpool 11 years ago, with the striker going on to score 36 goals in the 2013/14 season, even eclipsing the majestic Suarez that year.
The now 35-year-old then had two 20-goal Premier League campaigns at Chelsea, both of which ended in the Blues lifting the title. During 2014/15 in particular, when the Reds struggled up front after the Uruguayan’s move to Barcelona, a striker of the Spaniard’s prolific nature would’ve been especially welcome.
His goal record absolutely speaks for itself, although the former Blues marksman had some unedifying aspects to his game. Think back to his clashes with Emre Can and Martin Skrtel in matches against LFC, or his skirmish with Laurent Koscielny which enraged Arsenal in a 2015 fixture.
Costa was difficult to like during his time in English football, and while he may have scored plenty of goals had he come to Liverpool, we’d venture to suggest that he’d also have sullied the club’s name by getting involved in unsavoury incidents.
By the time he’d taken his leave of Chelsea in less than friendly circumstances, the Reds had assembled a forward line of Mo Salah, Bobby Firmino and Sadio Mane, a triumvirate which quickly wrote itself into legend and achieved plenty of tangible success at Anfield.
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