‘I was going to sign’: 7-time league winner missed out on Liverpool move

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Former France international Sidney Govou admits he missed out on a move to Premier League giants Liverpool in the summer of 2006 after Lyon failed to find a replacement, speaking to Canal Plus. 

Earlier this week, Real Madrid and Portugal legend Luis Figo detailed just how close he came to putting pen to paper with the Anfield outfit. 

“I would have liked to go,” Figo tells The Guardian. “We talked a lot. One week they say; ‘No, wait, we can’t do it just now’ and then they sign a (different) player. Then; ‘Wait a few more days, we need to sort this first’ and they sign another.  

“I think: ‘Bloody hell, are you messing with me, or what?’.” 

Figo, who would eventually put pen to paper with Inter Milan instead, is not the only high-profile winger who slipped through Liverpool’s fingers in the mid-2000s either.

Liverpool missed out on both Luis Figo and Sidney Govou

Despite contributing eight goals and five assists as Lyon won the 2005/06 Ligue 1 title, former France international Govou was made available for transfer. And Liverpool only missed out due to Lyon’s inability to replace a man who reached the final of the World Cup with Les Bleus that very same summer. 

“OL said to me: ‘We don’t want you next year. We want to sign another in your place’,” Govou recalls.

“At the same time, I had contact with a lot of clubs. I had contact with Liverpool, where I was going to sign. Unfortunately, Lyon couldn’t find the player to replace me.

Govou, a speedy right-winger with an eye for goal, would eventually stay for another four years at Lyon, taking his tally of Ligue 1 winners’ medals to a very impressive seven.

OL remains a club close to his heart a decade on, Govou backing the club’s decision to swap Peter Bosz for Laurent Blanc following a run of five games without a win in Ligue 1.

“(Bosz) had no desire to change. That’s what disappointed me the most about him,” Govou tells Le Progress of the 58-year-old Dutchman, who recently held talks to take over at Wolves. 

“I understand that he defends his principles of play. But you also have to agree to change when you are wrong. It was therefore no longer possible to continue with Peter Bosz. This is the third time he has been sacked in five years.”