Jamie Carragher claims Liverpool Mohamed Salah decision proves managers shouldn't always get what they want

Jamie Carragher claims Liverpool's decision to buy Mohamed Salah is proof managers should not always get what they want.

Liverpool had initially wanted to sign Borussia Dortmund's Julian Brandt over Salah in 2017, before completing a £35m move.

The Reds boss was looking to bring the then-Bayer Leverkusen winger to the Premier League but instead, Liverpool went for the Egyptian

Brandt rejected the approaches from Anfield, after links over a £25million move at the time.

Salah would arrive from AS Roma and, despite his previous struggles with Chelsea, has never looked back

Carragher

"When he initially came in, an interesting one was Mohamed Salah and Jurgen Klopp is open about this,"

"He didn’t want to sign him, he wanted Julian Brandt.

"Liverpool had tried to sign Salah before he went to Chelsea and the people behind the scenes at Liverpool were still there and Salah then went to Roma, and they were very adamant that they had to sign this player.

"You look at what Mohamed Salah has done, but it could have easily gone the other way.

"I do feel that this idea that managers should buy every player isn’t right, but a manager shouldn’t have a player pushed on him.’ I don’t think a manager should just be able to do what he wants, you look at Manchester United and it's worrying, it feels as if he’s [Erik ten Hag] just bought every player he knows."

Brandt has yet to earn a move to the Premier League, spending his playing career in the German top-flight where he now plies his trade at Klopp's former club, Dortmund.

The winger previously explained that he felt the move to Anfield "wasn't right".

Brandt

"I had that chance to take that next step to join Liverpool, but the time wasn’t right for me," he told the Athletic in 2023. "I was aware that they were also looking at Mo Salah at the time. It’s a shame because I would have loved to play for Kloppo."