ronaldo football kit for kids Barcelona, the club he had joined at the age of 14, had messed up. They had given him a contract extension in 2011 with a release clause of €90m (￡82m/$106m), but had failed to fulfil a series of clauses in that deal, relating mainly to playing time.
Thiago’s minutes in the 2012-13 season had fallen below the threshold, meaning the release clause had dropped to just €18m (￡16.5m/$21m).
Europe’s top clubs were on red alert.
Discussions with Liverpool, it is understood, were positive. Thiago was said to be open to the move, and a deal to take his younger brother, Rafinha, to Merseyside as well was mentioned. Rafinha, a Brazilinternational who is still contracted to Barca but spent last season on loan at Celta Vigo, would have cost an additional €3m (￡2.7m/$3.5m).
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? It was.
With a deal in place, Liverpool hesitated. Brendan Rodgers, the manager, voiced concerns over spending more money on a midfield controller. The Reds, at Rodgers’ request, had spent ￡15m (€16m/$19m) on Joe Allen the previous summer, and with concerns over the future of Suarez, as well as the need for at least one new centre-back following Jamie Carragher’s retirement, it was decided that the money would be spent elsewhere.
And so Liverpool bought Mamadou Sakho, Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto and Tiago Ilori, they loaned Aly Cissokho and Victor Moses. Suarez stayed for the season, while the cheap childrens football kits Reds missed out on the likes of Diego Costa, Willian and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to support him.