Few players have transformed Liverpool's fortunes quite like Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk.
The former is no longer at Anfield, with Mane swapping Merseyside for Munich in the summer, while the latter is enduring one of his more difficult campaigns at the club. However, things could have been oh so different entirely if Liverpool's rivals Manchester United had gotten their way.
That's because the Red Devils were interested in signing both of them prior to their arrivals at Anfield in 2016 and 2018 respectively. In Mane's case, his former side Southampton had even reached an agreement with United over the forward's fee, before a late call from Jurgen Klopp changed the course of Premier League history, given the Senegal star helped Liverpool win a league title, Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup in his time at the club.
"I have to say, I was really close to going to Manchester United," Mane told the Daily Telegraph. "I had the contract there. I had it all agreed. It was all ready, but instead, I thought, 'No, I want to go to Liverpool.'
"I was convinced to go with (Jurgen) Klopp's project. I still remember the first time I got the call from Klopp. He said, 'We have a big project at Liverpool and I want you to be part of it.'
"Then he asked what position I wanted because he could see at Southampton I played on the right side and I used to play on the left. I said I prefer left, and then he said, 'But (Philippe) Coutinho is on the left!' So I said, never mind, I will play on the right. I could see myself in all the positions."
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It was a similarly close call in regards to Van Dijk, though United only have themselves to blame for missing out on the Dutchman.
Having been linked with Van Dijk throughout the summer of 2017 while he was still at Southampton, United had a choice to make between the Netherlands international or Victor Lindelof.
Charlie Austin, Van Dijk’s team-mate at Southampton at the time, claimed in an interview years later that the now-Liverpool ace told him the Red Devils had a direct choice between the pair but opted for Lindelof.
"I remember the back end of his Southampton career we were on the bench together at Chelsea away," Austin told talkSPORT in 2021. "I sat there I said, 'Come on Virgil, what's going on, surely Man United must've been in for you? Massive club in England, etc.'
"He said, 'You know what Chaz, in the summer it was like between me or [Victor] Lindelof and they signed Lindelof'. I was like, 'You are joking?!' Nobody knows that, he told me that on the bench. I couldn't believe it, I was just as gobsmacked as you.
"Obviously there was talk in the summer he was going to go there then they’ve gone and taken Lindelof instead."
Considering Lindelof now finds himself as low as fourth in the pecking order of United's central defenders, the Red Devils hierarchy will need no reminding of how badly they got that one wrong.
