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Samuel Umtiti, the Barcelona centre-back, turned down the chance to join Liverpool in the last transfer window.
The Premier League champions were driven into the transfer market after Joel Matip joined long-term absentees Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez on the Anfield treatment table.
In the end they signed Ben Davies from Preston and took Ozan Kabak on loan from Schalke. Neither were of them were their original targets though.
They wanted to sign Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car, and Barcelona’s Umtiti.
However, the Ligue 1 side turned down their bid, whilst it was Umtiti himself who chose to remain in Spain.
After a string of injuries has limited him to just five La Liga appearances this campaign, The French international has been out of favour at the Nou Camp under Ronald Koeman, but still has hopes that he can revive his career in Catalonia and was unwilling to leave the club mid-season.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.