Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers refused to budge over Gylfi Sigurdsson's wage demands, as the Icelandic player signs in at Spurs.
Swansea had agreed a fee with Hoffenheim, and a contract with the player before the former Swans boss moved to Anfield.
On his arrival at Anfield however, Liverpool moved in to the driving seat to sign the player. However, Spurs then offered an extra £1.5M a year, and despite Sigurrdsson's attempts to get Liverpool to match the deal - the Liverpool boss, or board, elected to stick with their first offer.
Rodgers spoke about the player and his transfer in an interview with LFC.TV
"Gylfi did fantastic for me at Swansea last season.
"He wasn't playing at Hoffenheim, I brought him to Swansea and he did very well for me there, scored seven goals in 19 games and was very, very good.
"He and I both sat and spoke and believed that playing football was going to be the most important aspect for him. But obviously it was important financially so we agreed a deal for him to go to Swansea and that was wrapped up.
"I then became the Liverpool manager, and that then wasn't something that was going to happen at Swansea. So he then had a choice of where he wanted to go. I knew what the market was and I wasn't prepared to pay anything over what I had known was agreed before.
"Liverpool would have provided Gylfi with a wonderful opportunity to perform with a manager that he knows and at a club which is a real footballing institution.
"But he's decided to go to Tottenham, for whatever reason. I wish him the best, he's a good kid and there's no ill feeling. We've got other targets and we'll move on."
Been saying this for months, FSG do not have the money to compete at champions league level. They may have the appearance of ‘good custodians’ but they are in it for the exact same reasons that G and H were – they want to spend as little as possible and sell for a profit a few years down the line.
People made a lot of the so called hundreds of millions we spent, but the fact is our net spend was approx ~£30 m, significantly less than Spurs under Redknapp who also won’t be in the CL by the way. We also recruited a bunch of players that are on far less wages than those we bombed (Torres, Jovanovich et al.). FSG did not reward our best player in 2010 – 11 (Meireles) with a new contract so he left for a better one and they didn’t stump up a paltry £5 m to purchase Jelavic in Jan. Are people really that dumb? Never mind not wanting to pay over the odds, we can’t afford him!
So Brendon is on the same wages as when he was at Swansea ? When you move to a so called bigger club then you have higher profile, sell more shirts, more pressure & higher wage. So Pool will be paying same wages as Swans & will be attracting players from div 1.
Finally someone who talks sense. I cannot agree with you more. Brendon is a manager that can excite but can he manage at the top (which is where LFC ecpect to be) I am having serious doubts if I am honest.
He just seems to be attracting the bottom lines of players but I do not think that we will move on under the new regime, We MUST sell our club to arabs or rushians to compete nowadays. It’s been proved over the years that the YANKS are just in it for the money and not the clubs. MAN UTD can say the same.
The way it’s going Reading (mo dis-respect) are going to attract better players than LFC. LFC are becoming a laughing stock amongst the top teams. I have a lot af friends who support Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea etc and all they do is take the P**s out of me. I have a cousin in law who is a SWANSEA fan and he is constantly bringing up that we are trying to sign all Swansea loanees, nest we will be signing ROSIE WEBSTER. COME ON LFC WAKE UP AND GET SOME DECENT PLAYERS, OH YEAH I FORGOT WE AINT GOT A MANAGER WHO CAN ATTRACT THEM. DOH!!!!!!
Dear friend I totally agreed with you. After having read that Liverpool refused to pay an extra 1.5 m per year I applaud loudly. Well done Brendon. Superb job. Liverpool can accept and make losses pay high wages but cannot pay that amount. Pity.
I’m sure with Arab like that of City we should have a place in Champions league.
Dear Brendon just resign and let liverpool have an experience and successful manager. All players except Gerard, Suarez, Aggar and Reina should be sold. Please bring high quality players like Nani dribbling, A top finisher. Sneijder good passer. A top left winger.
So many arears where we lack quality. We want title not team building.
I’m a LFC supporter, and I wish the kid all the best… I’ll resist the urge to gloat about the manager who knows him best not willing to pay him more than he was originally offered (oh no I just did…), after all there must be a reason.
whats the reason for paying joe cole 90k a week then lol. you can’t have a go at spurs and just ignore all the problems with your own squad
Joe was a proven performer in the premier league, siggurdson had a good season Joe Cole was also free. We are also well stocked in the midfield dept.
Obviously Sigurdsson had an agreed wage to sign for Swansea but once Liverpool came up he saw the opportunity to have a go at pushing up the money. The money therefore was his major concern and so he decided on THFC as they were content to increase his salary. I rather think that this was a good move on the part of LFC as it had to come when they would stop being blackmailed into outrageous amounts either on salary or transfer. Let’s hope it continues but notice all the guys who say a stand should be taken over footballers wagers are the first to come out and cackle when a club does make such a stand! What chance change ?
Which is why Liverpool came back to the player at the last minute offering a bigger wage but the player wasn’t interested and perferred a club who have consistently in recent years finished above Liverpool.
Um hello, consitently finished above us.
Oh yea it has been 3 years and by god how much you have achieved since then too. get a life son will you.
Yes you finished above us but yet again you have no cups to show for that have you and again you have no history to prove that finishing above us is worth shouting about. Yes you will probably finish above us again this year but then again with who we are trying to sign and considering we have a manager who has a vast 0ne years experiance in the PL then we will probabaly be in the Championship next year,
YNWA MY A**E
Sigurdsson never gave Liverpool a change to match Tottenham´s offer. Brendan wanted Liverpool to make him a better offer but was not backed up by the Liverpool board.
if swans were able to pay tat much lpool easily shd hav been able to. shd sold adam and given his contract to sig. stats show hes much better than the former blackpool man
You were all creaming yourself a few weeks back when you thought you had him in the bag, weren’t you? Now that he’s chosen someone else, he’s expensive, or greedy, or no good. Short memories, Liverpool fans.
At least we dont invade other clubs forums and talk utter bollox!!
Congratulations on discovering the world’s thinnest argument.
Well done BR, the kid is greedy end of!!!!
Well done levy
You will regret not paying that extra
Exactly. I don’t think we should be paying over the odds for the players.
Greedy players like him don’t deserve to wear Liverpool shirt let alone wear da shoes good riddance ynwa
You need to be fair to the lad. If someone offered me more for the same job that I do now, It is a straight answer. So that is a bit harsh from you, You need to remember footballers are also human and have to make decisions that benefits them.
Still I don’t know what is all the fuss about, it’s not like we have missed the next Messi or Cristiano ronald, or Luis Suarez.
suarez only scored 11 goals in prem, he’s not actually that good
20m henderson, 35m carroll? You’re right, bargains!
and they got adam for the same price and probably similar wages, and he is totally useless, so yeah, they hate wasting money…
BR didn’t buy those players did he. He’s got his head screwed on. Saying that, Carroll will smash it this season.
…unless they’re English and not very good.