Scottish defender Andy Robertson joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017 after spells at Queen’s Park, Dundee United and Hull City. He made a name for himself as a super-aggressive side-back, going up and down repeatedly, sending accurate crosses and passes from the left flank and sometimes into the penalty area.
At the age of 30, the Scotland captain is still one of the best side-backs in the world, but he has had a life in football outside of Liverpool. Manager David Moyes, who managed West Ham United until last season, confessed that he had been targeting the player during his time in charge of Sunderland.
“Andy Robertson, if you remember, left Scotland, Queen’s Park, to go to Hull City,”
“I actually thought I’d done a deal to get him to come to Sunderland.”
“I was the manager at Sunderland at the time, and I met his agents and tried to sort out a deal to get him to come from Hull to Sunderland, but at the time, Hull and Sunderland were both near the bottom of the league and in competition, so we didn’t get him. But there’s a million hard luck stories in football.”
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The English manager was in charge of Sunderland in the 2016/17 season, but unexpectedly finished 20th in the Premier League and was responsible for relegating them to the Championship.
Hull City were also relegated to the lower leagues at the same time. With an offer from Liverpool on the table, there was no way he would choose a Championship club, so Robertson chose Anfield as his new home.
If he had moved to the north of England, he would not have won as many titles as he has now, but there would have been many other divergences…