Bobby Adekanye explains why he rejected three-year Liverpool deal

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Former Liverpool talent Bobby Adekanye has been discussing his time at Anfield and explaining why he decided to leave the club. 

Liverpool snapped up the talented young Dutchman from PSV Eindhoven in 2015, following stints at Ajax and Barcelona for the highly-touted attacker. 

His departure was something of a surprise and caused something of a storm in 2019. The player told Voetbal Zone that the ‘trust is no longer there’ between himself, Klopp and Liverpool regarding a chance in the first-team at Anfield. He went on to join Italian side Lazio in July last year. 

As he approaches a year in the Italian capital, the Nigerian-born talent has been speaking to The National about his decision to reject a lengthy contract offer at Liverpool to pursue more regular first-team football at the Stadio Olimpico. 

“Liverpool offered me a three-year contract, but I didn’t really see any plans for me in the future.

“It felt like they were just saying: ‘just sign the contract and we’ll see’, which didn’t look good to me and my family. I felt like I was ready to join the first team, even though they have a lot of talent.”

In fairness to the 21-year-old, it is a decision that has proven justified. 

Adekanye has been a regular feature in the Lazio first-team this season. That has seen him play seven games for the club, scoring one goal, but being in the matchday squad for the majority of fixtures. 

At Liverpool, he may have got his chances in the EFL Cup and FA Cup but it is more likely at his age that a loan move would have been the next path and Adekanye is clearly better off progressing at high-flying Lazio. 

Hopefully, he can continue to thrive and have a productive career, even if Liverpool end up wondering what might have been.