Liverpool once had their eye on Leeds loanee Pablo Hernandez.
Leeds United take on Liverpool in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night without their most creative player, Pablo Hernandez.
The former Spanish international is out with an injury and is set to miss his third successive game for the Whites.
Leeds United’s Pablo Hernandez scores the winning penalty in the shootout
His absence denies him a chance to remind the Reds why he was linked with a switch to Liverpool six years ago.
Goal reported via The People in 2010 that Hernandez had been ‘pinpointed’ by then Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson as a potential key player.
Hernandez was at Valencia at the time and was coming off an impressive season in Spain where he had netted seven times in all competitions.
Pablo Hernandez scores for Swansea
Valencia had no intentions of letting him leave at the time and Liverpool’s advances hit a dead end.
With hindsight Hernandez was better off having avoided being bought by Liverpool and being labelled a ‘Hodgson buy’ – just ask Christian Poulsen – with the manager’s disastrous spell lasting just a matter of months.
Hernandez signed for Swansea City two years later where he played a key role in helping them win the 2012/13 League Cup.
He is currently on loan at Leeds United from Qatari side Al Arabi, a move which is likely to become permanent.
He is aiming to help Leeds win promotion, but if the team can somehow topple Liverpool at Anfield in the EFL Cup quarter-final without him, then he may begin to believe he is in with a shot of winning his second winners’ medal in the competition upon his return..
Nottingham Forests’ Henri Lansbury in action with Leeds United’s Pablo Hernandez
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