Should Liverpool have heeded Purslow’s advice over Marco Verratti?

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Liverpool were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, and one player that really stood out for the French giants was Marco Verratti.

The Italian was excellent in the middle of the park alongside Adrien Rabiot, and really controlled the game at times for the hosts.

By contrast Liverpool’s midfield were poor, and lacked any kind of control or creativity.

After luckily being allowed to stay on the pitch following a challenge to Joe Gomez, Verratti oozed class and the Reds struggled to get near him.

He looked every inch the type of player that Liverpool were lacking on the night – perhaps Liverpool should have heeded the advice of their former managing director Christian Purslow.

What Purslow said

Back in January following the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, Purslow implored Liverpool to sign the 29-cap Italy international.

Speaking on Sky Sport’s The Debate, he said as quoted by The Liverpool Echo: “Go and buy Marco Verratti from PSG.

“Who has won the league in the last two years? Leicester and Chelsea. What was the common denominator? N’Golo Kante.

“Would he have made Liverpool better? Indisputably. He is a world-class player, I just think Liverpool have to aim high. I don’t want fine, I want brilliant, because they just sold brilliant. ‘Fine’ gets you fourth, fifth, sixth.”

Did Liverpool miss out?

Verratti certainly would have been an amazing addition for Liverpool.

The 26-year-old is a tenacious player with brilliant technical abilities.

He would have improved the Reds’ midfield drastically, as he showed at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

Liverpool bought Naby Keita and Fabinho, neither of whom have pulled up any trees yet, with the latter already being linked away.

Perhaps Liverpool should have listened to Purslow and tried to sign him – with him in their ranks, they might have sealed Champions League progression by now and been above Manchester City in the Premier League.