Dele Alli has claimed that Liverpool’s hopes of signing him fell flat when Steven Gerrard slept through a meeting with the future Tottenham star.
The lifelong Reds fan was on the verge of moving to Anfield from MK Dons in 2014, just months before the playmaker eventually opted for White Hart Lane.
Brendan Rodgers had been in regular conversation with the League One side’s erstwhile manager Karl Robinson and invited Alli and his family to Merseyside.
But the 20-year-old admits that Liverpool’s plans to convince him to sign backfired when he was forced to miss a meeting with boyhood idol Gerrard.
“At the time when I was at MK there was contact with Liverpool before I signed for Tottenham,” Alli told BBC’s Football Focus.
“But that was before we’d even spoke to Tottenham. I think it was six months before.
“We went up there and I think they knew that Steven Gerrard was my hero, so they said he was going to come down to meet me.
“But when I got there he was asleep apparently. I think he had a game the next day though so I understand.”