Third time lucky: Liverpool finally secured UCL-winning forward four years after initial approach | OneFootball

Former Liverpool forward Jari Litmanen has detailed how the Reds had tried to sign him twice before he eventually came to Anfield.

The Finnish football legend – who won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995 under Louis van Gaal – joined the Merseysiders at the start of 2001 and spent a memorable season-and-a-half in L4 under the late Gerard Houllier, contributing towards the famous trophy treble in his first few months at the club.

His time at Liverpool saw him accrue nine goals in 43 appearances before returning to Amsterdam in August 2002, although he could’ve been lining out in the iconic red shirt much sooner had the footballing gods dealt their cards differently.

Litmanen joined Liverpool at the third time of asking

In an interview with The Athletic, Litmanen spoke of how he was first approached by then-LFC manager Roy Evans in 1997 and also had the option of joining the Reds two years later before he eventually came to Merseyside midway through the treble season.

He recalled: “Roy Evans came to visit me at a hotel in Amsterdam in 1997. I was seriously thinking about it, but Ajax had been so good to me that I didn’t want to force a transfer. I told Roy that if they agreed a deal with Ajax I’d come, but I wouldn’t force it. They offered some money, but Ajax said I wasn’t for sale.

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“Then in 1999, when I was leaving Ajax, it came down to three options – Barcelona, Liverpool or Bayern Munich. I decided to go to Barca because of the stadium, the culture, the language. Plus, Van Gaal was manager there and some of my former team-mates.

“Then the president changed and after Van Gaal left, the new manager said: ‘I’ve chosen Rivaldo, so you don’t have a position in this team’. I thought for a few months and then my mind was clear – now I am ready for Liverpool. We had contact again with Gerard Houllier and he was excited, so we went for it.”

Imagine if Litmanen had come to Liverpool in the late 90s…

When the Reds finally signed Litmanen in 2001, it felt like a major coup to snap up a player who’d excelled in a Champions League-winning Ajax side and at Barcelona, and we can’t help but wonder what might’ve been if Evans’ initial approach for him had been successful.

Imagine the Finn coming to Liverpool in his mid-20s in 1997 and supplying Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler for several years rather than just one – we may well have achieved our first qualification for the Champions League much earlier than 2001/02.

Admittedly the attacker had more than his fair share of injury troubles before coming to Anfield, and his only full season at the club saw him struggle for starts as Houllier generally preferred Owen and Emile Heskey, but he still became a firm Kop favourite during his 19 months on Merseyside.

Litmanen (who turns 55 on Friday) has since been back in L4 for LFC Legends matches, and while he wasn’t with the Reds for especially long, he’s still remembered fondly by those who watched him play for us.

It was just a pity that his spell at Anfield wasn’t considerably longer!