Real Madrid forward Rodrygo stole the headlines on Wednesday night after his two dramatic late goals against Manchester City helped to complete one of the most remarkable Champions League comebacks. City were cruising at 1-0 up and leading 5-3 on aggregate before the Brazilian scored in the 90th and 91st minute to take the tie to extra time. Karim Benzema then netted a penalty to send Madrid through to Paris where they will take on Liverpool.
However in an alternative reality, Rodrygo, who has bagged five goals in the Champions League this season, including another crucial one in the quarter-final second leg against Chelsea to take the game to extra time, could have been lining up for Jurgen Klopp’s team in the final.
According to his agent, Nick Arcuri, Klopp was keen to sign the Brazilian wonderkid when he was just 16 and playing for Santos in his homeland. He had joined the club’s academy aged 10 and the Reds boss was reportedly so interested he made a trip to Sao Paulo to find out more about Rodrygo’s talents.
“When Rodrygo went to sign his first professional contract with Santos, aged 16, a Liverpool director called me saying that Klopp already knew the player, had seen the material and had already come to see Rodrygo personally,” Arcuri explained to Canal do Nicola.
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“He had gone on YouTube, searched ‘talents from Brazil’, Rodrygo had appeared and he was very young. He came to Brazil and liked him. They contacted me, the Liverpool director wanted him to be his first signing, Rodrygo. I went to England, sat in London - Liverpool have an office in London. I brought the proposal to Modesto [Roma Junior], then president of Santos.
“Modesto didn’t accept. It turned out that Santos didn’t want to sell Rodrygo and instead made the first professional contract. But it was Rodrygo’s first official proposal, he was 16 and it was Liverpool.”
The claims that Klopp wanted the Brazilian to be his first signing at the club can be disputed, along with this apparent trip to visit Rodrygo in his homeland but it seems evident that there was interest from Liverpool’s side.
Former Manchester CIty midfielder Elano managed Rodrygo at Santos in 2017 and supported Arcuri’s story. Back in 2019, he told ESPN: “There was a period when there was a very strong negotiation from Liverpool for him [Rodrygo] to leave when he was still very young. The values were very low but he wanted to go. Real’s offer later [the club confirmed his signing for £38m in 2018 with the player joining up a year later] was around €30m [£25m] more. I had a conversation with people at Santos and I said that the boy was worth the bet and we should raise him because I would like to work with him. Thank God everything worked out thanks to Rodrygo.”
The forward scored 17 goals in 80 appearances for Santos and has since netted 17 in 103 for Real Madrid. There is no doubt this campaign has been his breakthrough with eight goals and nine assists in 44 appearances. He had scored just nine in his previous 59 games and in Paris he will be hoping to make Liverpool regret not upping their offer back in 2017.
After Madrid’s win last night, he said: “I’m really happy to be able to score two goals in the semi-final and get Madrid to the place where they always belong - the Champions League final - and to win it. I couldn’t hear what my teammates were saying to me because I couldn’t believe what was happening. We were losing the game, my first goal in the 90th minute and we were dead and then what happened was what happened.”
