Liverpool allowed Lazar Markovic to spend the second half of the last season on loan at Anderlecht and after a difficult start with them, the winger impressed for the Jupiler Pro League club in the end.
The 24-year-old has one year left on his current deal at Anfield and the Belgian outfit’s manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck revealed his president Marc Coucke and sporting director Luc Devroe were so keen on securing his services they were ready to “crazy things”.
It’s not just the club’s chiefs, but even their fans wanted to see the signing of the Serbian international and Brussels based club were ready to offer him an annual salary of €2m to join them.
However, the deal did not take shape and the player is still with Jurgen Klopp’s side and Devroe has expressed his delight after Anderlecht failed to sign Markovic and also explained why his side did not sign Chancel Mbemba, who left Newcastle United and joined FC Porto.
“Actually, I’m glad we did not get Markovic. Looking at his statistics for the past two years: a few matches at Anderlecht and that’s it,” Devroe was quoted as saying by Het Nieuwsblad.
“Yes, we spoke to him, but he could only come to [our club on] our terms. Well, we also tried to get him a bit out of nostalgia. The fans have it for him, but nostalgia is not a good argument to decide. That is why it may well be that Chancel Mbemba did not come.”
