Mohamed Salah has been one of the best transfers in Liverpool’s history, but he wouldn’t have even ended up at Anfield if Jurgen Klopp had got his way. Salah is now known as “the Egyptian King” in the red half of Merseyside, having established himself as one of the greatest forwards the club has ever seen.

Yet, back in the summer of 2017, there was plenty of uncertainty about him. Then 25 years old, he had managed to make just six Premier League starts for Chelsea following an £11million move from Basel. The Blues loaned him out to Fiorentina and Roma, and the latter then signed him permanently in 2016.

Liverpool forked out £39m to sign him from Roma in June 2017 and the rest is history: 243 goals and 109 assists in 393 appearances and successes in the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Fifa Club World Cup.

Klopp hailed Salah as the “perfect mix of experience and potential” upon getting the deal over the line. But the Liverpool boss needed convincing by Liverpool’s data analysts, having initially favoured the signing of a fellow German that he knew much better.

“Jurgen's preferred option for that summer was Julian Brandt, who was a great player,” former Liverpool director of research Ian Graham says in BBC Sport documentary How to Win the Champions League: Liverpool 2019. “Jurgen would obviously know him very well coming from the Bundesliga and knowing the German market very well.