Liverpool are the most successful club in English football and most players would jump at the opportunity to represent them.
The Reds are the reigning Premier League champions and they are very keen to retain their title, with their summer business giving them the best chance to achieve this.
As seen with many of the players they have signed, almost all of them only wanted Liverpool and rejected an approach from many other clubs to get their desired move.
Alexander Isak appears to be doing the same, highlighting just how much ‘pull power’ the Reds have, something that they have not always had.
However, even without this attractiveness in the past, they still managed to get plenty of their targets, but there is one player in particular who has admitted that he never actually wanted to make the move to Anfield.
Julian Dicks never wanted to play for Liverpool
The early to mid nineties were an exciting time for English football as the first division had been re-branded to the Premier League and it was seen as a fresh start for many.
Liverpool were one of the clubs trying to reinvigorate themselves, with manager Graeme Souness wanting to sign players who would ‘toughen up’ the team.
And, after being recommended to sign him by Harry Redknapp, who was West Ham’s assistant manager at the time, Liverpool brought in left-back Julian Dicks, however the player himself has recently admitted that he never actually wanted to join.
“Yeah, to be honest, I didn’t want to go to Liverpool,” Dicks told the Sacked in the Morning podcast.
“I was happy at West Ham, even though we were struggling at the time. I never, never wanted to leave West Ham.
“But to be honest, the decision was probably made for me.”
Dicks left Liverpool after just a year, with his diet and fitness problems said to be the reason for his early exit, although his lack of desire to play for the Reds might have played a bigger factor than people realised at the time.
Julian Dicks had a bust-up with manager Roy Evans
After Souness stepped down as manager in 1994, Roy Evans was the man to take over, although his arrival all-but put an end to Dicks’ Liverpool career.
Evans took an instant disliking to his left-back, with Dicks revealing that the bust-up between the two of them was caused by comments made about his weight.
“I didn’t get on with Roy Evans. I played the last seven games of the 1993-94 season and everything was fine,” Dicks told Kammy and Ben’s Proper Football podcast.
“I was going on holiday with my family and saw him in the airport and in the papers a few days before he had been quoted as saying I wasn’t fit enough, so I asked him about it. He said ‘No, no, you are part of Liverpool. See you in pre-season’.
“So I went away, enjoyed my holiday, and came back and played some pre-season games. We played Bolton, I think it was, and got beat 4-1. After the game he hammered Mark Wright but said nothing to me, but the next day he was in the papers saying I am overweight.
“I came into training and the next day he told me to train with the kids; I got in my car and went home. I did that for about a month. Every day he was waiting for me!”
After just 13 months at Anfield, Dicks got his desired move back to West Ham and put an end to his torrid time on Merseyside.
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