Saturday, 6th September, 2014
Xherdan Shaqiri has acknowledged that Liverpool made a bid of £13m to sign him before the World Cup, but revealed Bayern Munich blocked the move.
The Switzerland international was consistently linked with the Reds throughout the summer, with Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers known to be a big fan of the winger.
However, despite Shaqiri having expressed his unhappiness at being overlooked for key games by the Bavarians last term, the German champions were not willing to allow him to leave.
And, Shaqiri says, they put their foot down.
Asked about Liverpool offering 20m Swiss Francs (£13m) for him before the World Cup, but Bayern Munich putting their foot down, Shaqiri told Swiss daily Blick: "Yes, that is right.
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"They told me: 'Xherdan, we won't sell you.'
"Yes there was much written and speculated. I am now just happy it is quiet."
The former FC Basel man also revealed that Bayern Munich informed from the start of the summer that they were not ready to allow him to leave the Allianz Arena, something which led the winger to make clear his own views.
"Bayern told me right from the beginning that they would not let me go.
"I, on my part, expressed very clearly that I need more playing time", he added.
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