Liverpool wanted Diego Costa to play with Luis Suarez under Brendan Rogers, says Ian Graham

Football as a sport has an incredible amount of ‘what if’s’ when it comes to failed transfers, but Liverpool’s attempt to sign Diego Costa is one of the more outrageous.

Back in 2013, Brendan Rogers was at the helm at the club had just finished seventh in the Premier League, been knocked out of both domestic cups in the fourth round and had been knocked out of the Europa League in the Round of 32 - it was certainly a dark time for Liverpool who had always been proclaimed as a winning club.

Yet, they were about to embark on an incredible 2013/14 season which nearly ended up in a title-winning campaign. Led by the enigmatic Suarez, who produced arguably the greatest individual campaign in Premier League history, it could have been so different if the club had completed a move for Costa, who was making waves in Spain at Atletico Madrid.

That’s according to the former head of research at Liverpool, Ian Graham. Spilling the beans in his book titled ‘How to Win the Premier League: The Inside Story of Football’s Data Revolution’ he confirmed multiple ‘nearly-transfers’. Some are already well known, such as the fact Jurgen Klopp wasn’t keen on Mohamed Salah and preferred Julian Brandt at the time for example, but the idea of Costa donning the famous Red shirt alongside Suarez - who had just been banned for the opening six games of the season due to a biting incident - would have been a combination of pure quality and chaos.

Speaking to the Athletic, he recalled the potential deal. “Can you imagine a Liverpool front line of Luis Suarez and Diego Costa? It would have been filthy! As it was, Costa ended up joining Chelsea the following year.” He eventually arrived in England in 2014 and fired Chelsea to two league titles in three years, netting at Anfield in the early knockings of the season - a game in which he engaged in a battle of physicality with Martin Škrtel that ended up with the striker having to change shirts after it was ripped.

However, if he did sign, we may never have seen the Suarez and Daniel Sturridge partnership in full flow. It still stands as one of the best attacking duo campaigns we’ve ever seen in England’s top-flight as the pair combined to produce 71 goal contributions in total and it nearly resulted in a famous title victory.