23 Feb 2018 09:47:18
hello eds.

just a bit of question. How close were we to sign david villa, david silva or even mata when it was benitez era. I remember constantly seeing these names linked esp david villa. imagine villa, torres, gerrard, Alonso in their prime. woww

thanks.

{Ed001's Note - Silva and Villa were all agreed but the club refused to pay the money.

Mata was never close, he was interested (as I revealed at the time only for certain other journalists to c'n'p my exclusive and claim it as their own) and the club considered him but then Chelsea came in for him and we were out of it.}

1.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 09:58:32
Blimey, how close. That team would have been truly special.

2.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 10:36:03
Silva would've been my pick out of all three, he is truly something special, I'd still have him in the team even now. Such a shame we lost out on him.

3.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 10:43:16
No one really knows how things would have worked out had they come, IMO even tho both players would have definitely improved us at the time. Same for Salah. had he come in 13/ 14, we would definitely not have had the Salah we know and love today as he was just 21 at the time and still learning the game (Sigh) .

4.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 12:28:32
Oh man what a team we could have! Torres Villa Silva Gerrard Xabi Mascherano Arbeloa Aurelio Carragher Hyppia Reina!

5.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 15:01:52
2005 was right platform for us to build, we could have done something special under Benitez if not for hicks and Gillette.

6.) 23 Feb 2018
23 Feb 2018 17:31:25
To be fair, Shreyan, Hicks and Gillett, sheisters thou they undeniably are, didn't take over the club until 2007.

David Moores is the one you want to look at for not building on 2005. He was only interested in extracting the maximum value for himself from any potential sale.

7.) 24 Feb 2018
24 Feb 2018 00:16:55
Dani Alves as well if I remember right.