Liverpool were told to sign France World Cup final star Theo Hernandez as a youngster by their former scout Jonathan Woodgate.
Hernandez has been one Les Bleus' standout performers in Qatar as Didier Deschamps' side chase a second successive World Cup triumph. Since replacing his older brother Lucas in France's opening contest in the Middle East, the AC Milan left-back hasn't looked back and looks a shoo-in to be named in the team of the tournament.
Opening the scoring in Wednesday's 2-0 semi-final success over Morocco, Hernandez has shone on the biggest stage of them all over the past month, advertising his excellent technical ability married with electric pace. While he may still struggle to get into Liverpool's team given how good Andy Robertson is, he could well have been part of Jurgen Klopp's squad by now.
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Former Leeds United, Real Madrid and England centre-back Woodgate was appointed as a Reds scout in 2016 and worked closely with Michael Edwards, was was soon to become the club's sporting director.
Woodgate and Edwards had grown close while the former was a player and the latter head of performance analysis at Tottenham Hotspur. That led Woodgate to be offered the chance to do some scouting for Liverpool in Spain and Portugal.
He scouted Ruben Dias before the centre-back went on to sign for Manchester City from Benfica and studied Marcos Llorente, whose goals would later see Atletico Madrid knock Liverpool out of the Champions League.
But the one player Woodgate wanted the Reds to sign was Hernandez, who at that stage was playing for Real Madrid.
“I recommended a player who signed for Real Madrid. I absolutely adored him but Liverpool decided they didn’t want him," Woodgate said, speaking to Jamie Carragher's The Greatest Game podcast back in 2020.
"He’s done okay – he’s at AC Milan now. Theo Hernandez – bombs on for fun, and he’s a machine,”
Hernandez, now 25, scored five times and registered 10 assists during AC Milan's run to the Serie A title last season. He is now just one game away from claiming the biggest prize in world football. France will take on Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday afternoon.
Hernandez is joined in the Les Bleus squad by Reds centre-back Ibrahima Konate.
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