Brendan Rodgers: How Liverpool missed out on 'perfect' Sanchez after selling Suarez

BRENDAN RODGERS has expressed his regret at losing out on Alexis Sanchez to Arsenal.

 

Brendan Rodgers was desperate to sign Alexis Sanchez

 

The Chilean joined the Gunners in 2014 after an excellent World Cup and he has since established himself as one of the best players in the Premier League.

Luis Suarez left Liverpool and joined Barcelona a day after Sanchez's exit and Rodgers expressed his disappointment at their transfer failings which left them having to sign Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli.

 

He told Goals on Sunday: "I manage the club how I want to but there were other conditions that meant that we could not get players that I wanted in. 

"The huge blow for us was we felt we were getting Alexis Sanchez. We thought Luis was going and he would have been the like for like replacement.

"He would have been perfect for us, how aggressive he is and how he presses the game. If we had got Alexis in after Luis going, it would have been a smooth transition. Then we were bringing Rickie Lambert in alongside that.

 

"But it ended up that we didn’t get Alexis Sanchez and then suddenly there is a lot of pressure on Rickie Lambert and that wasn’t meant to be the plan. He was brought in as someone who could come into games late on, in cup games.

"But all of a sudden, Sanchez doesn’t come in; we think Fabio Borini is going. Daniel has been injured. 

"And, all of sudden, the only striker who think is going to be here is Rickie Lambert. And at 32 years of age going into a Champions League season, that wasn’t ideally what we needed. So we had to bring in someone."