Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has revealed that he passed up the opportunity to sign Sergio Aguero two years ago because he was too much of a 'risk'...Aguero was heavily linked with Liverpool in the summer of 2006 after rising to fame with his prodigious performances for Independiente.
Then 17 years of age, the Argentine forward instead signed for Atletico Madrid where he has since established himself as one of the most exciting young players in world football.
“Two years ago the agents were talking with us about players and he was one of those but he was too young and [Atlético] paid big money for him, around 18 million euros for a player who was a risk,” Benitez said in The Times. “In the Premier League it’s different and sometimes players will need more time here to improve.”
The Reds boss opted to draft in strikers Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy for a combined fee of £18million that summer - £4million more than Atleti paid for Aguero. While Kuyt has since become a valuable, if not prolific, performer for Liverpool, Bellamy was moved on after a single tumultuous season.
Another player who got the chop at Anfield is Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who was sold to Recreativo Huelva in May 2007 to make room for the impending arrival of Fernando Torres.
Fittingly, the French forward is now in Atletico's ranks after penning a four-year deal in July and is likely to face his former employers when they visit the Vicente Calderon for Wednesday's Champions League clash.
“We had a lot of confidence in him, we knew that he’s a good player but he needed to play games,” Benítez said of Sinama-Pongolle, who was recently handed his first international cap by France coach Raymond Domenech. “We had Crouch, we were bringing in Torres, it was a question of space.”
Torres has been ruled out of a return to his old stomping ground after injuring his hamstring last week while on World Cup duty with Spain.
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