Five world class players Liverpool regret missing out on

5 World Class players: Eric Cantona

Yes we missed out on signing Eric frickin’ Cantona not once but twice. The story goes that after all of his troubles in France a psychologist recommended that to continue his football career a change of scenery could be in order. The mercurial striker chose England as his destination and with LFC still regarded as the best club in the land at the time Anfield was his first choice. I will let the manager in charge at the time, Graeme Souness,  explain what happened.

"“We played Auxerre in the UEFA Cup. After the game, Michel Platini knocks on my office door and comes in. He said he had a player for me. ‘A proper player.’ He told me that he was a problem in France but would be perfect for Liverpool,” explains Souness in Simon Hughes’ book, Men In White Suits.  “The player was Eric Cantona. I said: ‘Listen, I’m fighting lots of fires here at the moment; I don’t need any more trouble.’ “It was another situation where I should have been more open-minded.”"

 After joining Leeds Utd and guiding them to the old Division 1 title he had a falling out with hierarchy at the club and decided to move on. Liverpool were again his first choice but Souness was still against making the deal. Cantona went on to join Manchester Utd instead and score almost every time he played against LFC.