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Brendan Rodgers opens up on failed Alexis Sanchez bid when Liverpool boss

Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers reveals that Alexis Sanchez was his top target to replace Luis Suarez at Anfield three years ago, but he missed out to Arsenal.

Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he tried to sign Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona during his time as Liverpool manager, only to instead settle for Mario Balotelli.

The Reds were on the lookout for a like-for-like replacement to come in for Luis Suarez, who netted 31 times in the 2013-14 campaign as his side came agonisingly close to winning their first Premier League title.

Suarez left for Barca in a £75m deal and Liverpool turned their attention to Sanchez, but the Chile international instead opted for Arsenal and the Merseyside outfit had to settle for one of their back-up choices at half the price.

"We felt like Luis was going to move on and we needed to get a world-class operator to go like-for-like," he told talkSPORT. "We finished second in the league playing a great level of football.

"Players were flexible in how they could play and then it was about trying to make that next step. And for that we needed to get a replacement. And we deemed Sanchez to be that one."

Balotelli managed just four goals in 28 matches for Liverpool, while Sanchez has racked up more than half a century of league goals since the start of 2014-15.

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1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
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13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
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15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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