Three times in five years, Liverpool might have signed Lazar Markovic. Three times, they demurred. Damien Comolli worried that the teenager, offered to him for £2 million while he was the club’s technical director, would not be eligible for a work permit. Kenny Dalglish baulked at what he saw as an inflated price. And then Brendan Rodgers declined, mistakenly believing he had already been promised to Chelsea.
...it was widely assumed Chelsea had negotiated a first option on him with his agent, Fali Ramadani. Even when he signed for Benfica — his brother, Filip, was included in the deal — Dragan Duric, Partizan’s president, seemed to hint it was part of some sort of masterplan that would eventually take him to Stamford Bridge. Rodgers had heard the same rumour. It was enough to put him off.