Liverpool missed their chance to sign a Ballon d’Or winner in 2005 after refusing to pay just £2m

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Liverpool have often stayed away from signing the biggest names in football, instead preferring to develop their own superstars in-house.

That attitude appears to have shifted somewhat in recent months, with the Reds shelling out huge money to sign Florian Wirtz and then Alexander Isak this summer.

It remains to be seen whether this constitutes a permanent change in approach from Liverpool, but the chances are that it will not.

Either way, Liverpool splashing the cash is a far cry from the days of Rafa Benitez, where they were often left scrapping for left-overs in the transfer market.

A good example of this is the summer of 2005. Having led Liverpool to a stunning Champions League win, Benitez may have expected to be backed with a big transfer pot. Instead, the Reds spent around £30m on Peter Crouch, Pepe Reina, Mark Gonzalez, Momo Sissoko and Bolo Zenden.

While there was a clear dearth of headline additions, Liverpool could have signed one of the very biggest names around had they parted with just £2m.

Liverpool missed out on cheap Luis Figo deal

Rewind 20 years, and the name of Luis Figo was one every single football fan was extremely familiar with.

Figo joined Real Madrid from Barcelona in 2000, in what remains one of the most shocking and controversial transfers of all-time.

READ MORE: Martin Kelly names the best player he ever played with at Liverpool… he was ‘like Zinedine Zidane’

Five years on from that, and the Portuguese winger was looking for a new challenge. His contract in Madrid was finishing, and he was ready to move on.

As The Guardian reported on July 9th 2005, Liverpool were ‘nearing an agreement’ with Real which would have seen Figo move to Anfield on a free transfer.

Madrid had initially gone back on their word to let Figo leave for nothing, reportedly demanding Liverpool paid £2m to sign the then 32-year-old.

However, the Reds were said to be ‘confident’ that they could still get Figo for free, and the 2000 Ballon d’Or winner’s arrival was even said to be ‘imminent’ following further talks between the two clubs.

But despite details of Figo’s wage packet even being released – he was set to earn around £60k-per-week – the move ultimately broke down, with the Portugal international joining Inter Milan on August 5th.

Why did Luis Figo’s move to Liverpool break down?

Although Liverpool would not have been signing Figo at his very best, his arrival would still have been hugely popular on Merseyside.

He went on to play for four seasons at Inter, making over 140 appearances and winning four consecutive Scudetti. Something similar at Liverpool would have been fantastic to witness.

But, unfortunately, it sounds as though fans wanting to see Figo at Anfield will ultimately have to blame their own club for not getting it over the line. Speaking in April 2024, Figo shared the reasons why his move to Liverpool fell through.

“Yes, it was a possibility at that time,” he told GOAL. “It was close, I was negotiating with Rafa [Benitez], but in the end it didn’t happen for different reasons. Liverpool at the time were struggling and not making a decision on whether to sign me, so I decided not to go there.

“I don’t know [what they were waiting for], but every week they were like ‘We’re waiting to do this’ and then they sign one player, ‘We’re waiting’ and then they sign another. So I said ‘Come on, this cannot happen, I cannot wait too long.”

Had they shown intent and agreed to pay Madrid’s demand of £2m, they could have had one of the best wingers football has ever seen plying his trade at Anfield.