Roberto Lopez is gradually breaking through at Real Sociedad, with the 20-year-old picking up seven La Liga appearances so far this season. Those have only totalled in 144 minutes, but the midfielder has managed to score twice for the Basque club.
He’s now also a Spanish U21 international, picking up his debut during the current international break, and again managing to get himself a goal.
Things could have been very different, with Lopez never wanting to rush into his career choices, and coming close to joining Liverpool.
Speaking to Marca, Lopez has told the Spanish newspaper that he was invited to England and offered tests with the Premier League club, and simply couldn’t turn down the chance of possibly signing for the Reds.
Lopez explained: “I could not miss that opportunity and I went to Liverpool for a test week. They told me that there were also a lot of people in my position.”
The same happened with Atletico Madrid and then Villarreal came forward, with Lopez holding them off before eventually signing for Real Sociedad.
Now with his value gradually increasing and his career certainly looking like it’s on the right track, Liverpool and Atletico may come to regret turning Lopez down in favour of other options.
Any move would have been for free, given the player wasn’t attached at that stage, but the Reds decided against going through with it.
