Raheem Sterling was reportedly set to play for a second spell at Liverpool last year.

The England international has left Manchester City to join Chelsea in a £48million transfer.

Since then, Sterling, who began his senior career at Liverpool, has had a mixed spell in West London, scoring six goals and hitting three goals in 22 appearances in all competitions [Transfermarkt].

But apparently the Blues weren’t his first choice.

According to The Athletic, the former Liverpool winger wanted to return to Anfield, having left for Manchester City in 2015 for £49m. However, the report adds that the Merseysiders weren’t interested in bringing Sterling back.

If Jürgen Klopp knew what he was doing now, he could have taken the 28-year-old back.

Liverpool have been without Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota for much of the season through injuries, both of whom can operate on the left side of attack.

And after selling Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino last summer, the German coach could not afford to deal with an injury crisis at left-back.

So with that in mind, Sterling may have gotten more attention from Liverpool. On the other hand, they now have Cody Gakpo in their squad and despite a quiet start under Klopp, the Dutchman has the potential and ability to explode for the Reds.

Also…

Klopp explains what lead to  Liverpool’s poor performance

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists attitude is not the issue for his failing side this season.

Six Premier League defeats are four more than they suffered in all of last season, but while their hold on the Carabao Cup is over, their FA Cup defense continues in Brighton on Sunday.

The side that returned to the scene of what Klopp described as the worst performance of his coaching career two weeks ago will give players the chance to show they have learned from that and can build on the back of two consecutive clean sheets.
“If (the problem) was the attitude, it would be very easy, so it’s not like they played badly on purpose,” he said.

“It never happened. That’s why I can’t sit here and say, “I told them everything, they just can’t.”

‘Attitude is not a problem. It is the sense of necessity.

For example, a player checks his running stats after the game and says he ran exactly the same way. But defense is mostly input. “The Brighton game was good for creating 100,000 per cent awareness of that fact. It was the low point, like ‘OK, it’s not allowed’.
“It’s hard to come back there. If it was easy, anyone could have done it.

“I’ve really seen real steps in the right direction and that’s important and has to be my first concern when thinking about the starting line-up.”

In their recent struggles and struggles to overtake Wolves, it was almost forgotten that Liverpool are the FA Cup holders after beating Chelsea at Wembley last May. Not that Klopp thinks it has any impact.
“As a cup holder, I don’t think that’s (a) huge competitive advantage. We’re starting from zero,” he added.

“We know how great the event is when you get to the final, so that helps if you want it.”

One of the bright spots in the last two games has been the performance of 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic.

The teenager has started back-to-back games alongside Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita and signed a new contract until 2027 this week. “We were quite careful with him, due to his age. Now he has shown that he is ready and for us it is very useful, with all the natural talents of him,” said Klopp.
‘We haven’t shown that often enough in recent matches; aggression, but good aggression – it’s not that he kicks players.
“He’s also a good football player, so that’s obviously very important at center park.”