Upon joining Real Betis over the summer, many began reminiscing how Nabil Fekir, the talented Frenchman who was inches away from joining European champions Liverpool, ended up at a mid-table La Liga side.
The player’s former agent Jean-Pierre Bernes has opened up about his failed move to Anfield in 2018 and while he admits the midfielder’s knee problem was an issue, he revealed that the true blame lies elsewhere. According to him, Fekir brother-in-law was the reason everything fell apart.
His former agent Jean-Pierre Bernes revealed that Fekir was Klopp’s top target. The then Lyon captain had undergone a medical and was about to put pen to paper on a deal with the Merseyside giants but his brother-in-law got interrupted the negotiations.
Bernes spoke to French TV station Canal Plus, revealing that the brother-in-law began acting like the World Cup winner’s representative, thus demanding a commission for the deal.
“Nabil was Liverpool's priority. I worked for four months with the Liverpool representatives, with Jurgen Klopp, Jean-Michel Aulas, everything was ready,” his former agent said, as per Get Football News France.
“Nabil was already aware of his future contract, which would have seen him earn around €45m over five years.
“And on the day that the contract was supposed to be signed, at Rambouillet, we saw a lawyer and Nabil's brother-in-law arrived who said: ‘Stop everything, discussions have to start all over again.’ It was surreal. We thought that we were in a Walt Disney film.”
Fekir has record of being injury-prone and the consensus was that after the Liverpool medical staff noticed a knee problem with the Frenchman, the Premier League giants ended their pursuit. Bernes admits that this played a part but he argues that he as his agent could have worked something out despite the injury had it not been for that one family member.
“When the Liverpool guys witnessed this cinema, they immediately… Sometimes when a player has an injury representatives can make an effort to make it work,” he added.
“The brother-in-law of Nabil all of a sudden acted like a player’s agent. He wanted a commission, everyone knows, it is fashionable these days.
“[Fekir] was on a cloud, he seemed to have transformed, he didn’t even greet the Liverpool representatives.
“He arrived after the medical, everyone was looking at each other, the Liverpool representatives were wondering where they were. I was ashamed.”
The playmaker ended up staying at Lyon for another season before leaving for Spain in a cut-price move. However, had things gone according to plan, Fekir could have been a World Cup and Champions League winner plying his trade at Anfield.
