Earlier today, we relayed news from Belgium that Liverpool winger Lazar Markovic’s move to Anderlecht collapsed because of the Serbian international’s wage demands.
The 24-year-old has not been in Jurgen Klopp’s plans at Anfield and the Merseyside club allowed him to join the Jupiler Pro League side on loan for the second half of last season.
He had a difficult start to his career in Belgium due to poor fitness, but managed to recover in time, and this convinced the fans that signing him on a permanent transfer would be a good idea.
Hein Vanhaezebrouck revealed his side failed to find an alternate target to the former Benfica man because they were focused on signing the Liverpool player, who has one year left on is contract.
“We still wanted an offensive player. Either a third attacker or an infiltrator capable of doing a Markovic action. When you put everything on one player – and this is not a reproach – you may not have time to transfer another,” Vanhaezebrouck said.
“We had to wait a long time until he decided himself that he wanted to come to Anderlecht. He did not have many possibilities and we waited for his price to fall as low as possible. If he’s not here, it’s only his fault.
“The president and Luc Devroe [sporting director] did everything to make the transfer happen. They would have even done crazy things to have him. Finally, he felt that it was not enough yet. It is therefore purely for financial reasons that he is not here.”
