Marseille defender Duje Caleta-Car has confirmed that Liverpool made him an offer during the January transfer window.
Caleta-Car was speaking at a press conference earlier today, and as quoted by Get French Football News, he admitted an offer from the Reds as transfer guru Michael Edwards attempted to seal a late move.
The centre back noted that he intends to watch a couple of Champions League games today, most likely Liverpool’s clash with RB Leipzig, which is why he brought up their offer.
“Today, there is the Champions’ League, and I am going to watch the two games, I received an offer from Liverpool,” said Caleta-Car. “It was an honour for me to know that such a club wanted me. We decided with the club that I was going to stay. Marseille is also a great club and I still have a lot of improving to do here,” he added.
The Croatian made his name with Red Bull Salzburg, just like current Reds players Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino.
Liverpool did sign two centre backs on deadline day as Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak arrived from Preston North End and Schalke respectively, but it seems Caleta-Car was another prime target.
RMC Sport reported that Caleta-Car was ready to fly to England to join Liverpool, but Marseille pulled the plug on the move at the last minute.
The Independent claimed just last week that Liverpool would have signed the defender for £20million if they had moved earlier; Marseille’s only sticking point was a lack of time to find a replacement.
Kabak is only on the loan, so we will soon see whether Michael Edwards and co look to dip back into the market for another defender in the summer, with 24-year-old Caleta-Car surely still on the radar.
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