Premier League giants Liverpool have tried and failed to lure Cologne’s Bundesliga ace Jonas Hector to Anfield.
And they say loyalty is dead in football.
Cologne look almost certain to be relegated from the Bundesliga this season. With three games to go in Germany’s top flight, the Billy Goats are bottom of the table and eight points adrift of the relegation play-off place.
So you could hardly blame Hector, a top quality left-back who looks set to start for Joachim Low’s Germany at the World Cup this summer, if he was to jump ship at the end of the campaign with a number of big European sides surely willing to offer him the platform he deserves.
Serie A giants Juventus were also understood to be interested in the 36-time international, who has been Germany’s first choice since 2014.
But Hector has shocked world football, and earned himself quite a few admirers too, by signing a new contract with Cologne until 2023.
The 27-year-old has been at Germany’s fourth biggest club since 2010, rising through the ranks to become an established member of the first team, and there is no doubt that he is far too good for the second division.
Yet, Hector looks like one that got away for Liverpool. But even the most ardent Anfield enthusiast must admirer his loyalty.
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