Liverpool's £142million sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona almost never happened because the Brazilian nearly joined Southampton for a paltry fee years earlier.
Former Southampton executive Les Reed revealed that the club was on the brink of signing Coutinho from Inter Milan for just £500,000 in 2012, shortly after securing promotion back to the Premier League.
A dramatic change of heart
The deal was effectively complete before chairman Nicola Cortese had a late change of heart and opted to sign a different player instead.
"The chairman [Nicola Cortese] decided against it," Reed explained on the Fozcast podcast. "We went for another player - and no disrespect to the other player, because he was a good lad - but he didn't go as far as Philippe."
That other player is presumed to be Gaston Ramirez, who managed just eight goals during his four-year spell at St Mary's, while Coutinho developed into one of the finest creative midfielders in the world.
Liverpool's gain
Just six months after Southampton walked away, Liverpool swooped to sign Coutinho for £8.5m in January 2013. He quickly became the heartbeat of the side that narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in the unforgettable 2013/14 campaign.
Five years later, Barcelona came calling. Liverpool negotiated a deal worth an initial £105m, with a further £37m available in add-ons, taking the total package to £142m.
A transformative transfer
The money generated helped bring in Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho - three players who, alongside stars such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, formed the backbone of a team that conquered both England and Europe.
Had Southampton beaten Liverpool to Coutinho's signature, the course of both clubs' histories could have looked very different. Without that huge transfer windfall, the Reds may never have made the statement signings that moulded Jurgen Klopp's team from contenders to champions.
Between 2014 and 2018, Liverpool signed Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne, Mane and Van Dijk from Southampton in deals worth more than £170m.
Over a decade on, the Coutinho decision remains one of the biggest "what ifs" in both Southampton's and Liverpool's history - a tiny fork in the road that helped shape the future of English and European football.
