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Liverpool spent the first few months of the summer transfer window linked with a wide range of attacking talent, and few were mentioned as often as Switzerland and Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri. He'd been linked in the summer of 2013 with little reason to believe that anything would actually pan out, and when his name popped up again in May and June of this summer it seemed more of the same.
But with reported interest on both sides this time around it wasn't quite as far-fetched, and efforts to make the transfer happen did, according the player, reach the point of a bid being lodged before Shaqiri's World Cup campaign kicked off in Brazil:
"Liverpool made a bid for me before the World Cup but Bayern put their foot down and told me, ‘We're not going to sell you'. My contract runs until 2016 and I could possibly extend it. I will consider my decision during the winter break."
In the end it obviously didn't work out, and while Shaqiri would have been a more established name than Lazar Markovic, it's hard to feel too disappointed with how things went. Markovic has looked promising in his appearances to this point, impressing in cameos after coming off the bench against Manchester City and Spurs. Shaqiri would have likely been excellent, but Markovic as the consolation prize is a good reflection of just how impressive Liverpool's summer business was.
