Ian Ayre has claimed Liverpool’s deal to sign Dele Alli fell through due to the player’s demands.
Alli took in a tour of Melwood as the Reds attempted to secure his services from MK Dons in 2015, only for the midfielder to opt for Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Since moving to White Hart Lane, the 21-year-old has become an established England international and was recently crowned the PFA’s Young Player of the Year.
Previously, Alli alleged that Anfield officials set up a meeting with his childhood hero Steven Gerrard but the ex-Liverpool captain had slept through the planned encounter.
But Ayre, who was the club’s CEO until this February, insists that there was far more to the collapse of Brendan Rodgers’ attempts to sign the promising playmaker.
“There was interest in the player,” he told Liverpool John Moores University’s Roscoe Lecture Series.
“But where it got to was that the demands at that time were not fitting to what he had achieved at that point.
“We didn’t feel the player matched that demand. It’s easy to sit and say ‘look what you could have bought’, but how many players could you apply the reverse of that to?
“That’s the truth.”