Revealed: Liverpool pulled off 'signing of the summer' after PL club refused to pay £50K-a-wk

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Published on:

25 Sep 2019, 4:53 am

EXCLUSIVE By Wayne Veysey

Liverpool pulled off the summer signing of Adrian after no leading club were willing to offer him a regular first team spot, Football Insider can reveal.

The goalkeeper, 32, has made eight consecutive starts for Jurgen Klopp's side after taking advantage of an injury to Alisson to reignite his career.

Liverpool's players have been won over by the Spaniard, who has delivered a series of impressive performances despite little top-level interest in him over the summer.

A Liverpool source has told Football Insider many at the club believe they have pulled off the "signing of the summer" given that Adrian arrived on a free and was handed a two-year deal on one of the lowest salaries in their senior squad.

The Spaniard was a free agent after he was released in June by West Ham, who baulked at offering him an extension of the same £50,000-a-week terms.

Lukasz Fabianski was the undisputed number one at the London Stadium after an outstanding debut campaign following his own free transfer arrival.

Adrian told the Hammers, according to one club source, that he wanted regular first-team football in any case, and didn't want another campaign of playing second fiddle.

But the type of clubs that Adrian wanted to play for were unwilling to offer that number one guarantee.

There was interest in him from Crystal Palace as well as his former club Real Betis, yet he was still without a club towards the end of the summer window.

It was Liverpool who ended Adrian's two months without a club, as they worked on securing a replacement for Simon Mignolet while he was in talks to join Club Brugges, a move completed in the final days of the window.

Klopp had instructed goalkeeping coach John Achterberg to help sign a shot-stopper with extensive top-level experience and who could fit into Liverpool's sophisticated pattern of play.

Adrian fitted the bill after playing 150 times for West Ham across six seasons following his arrival from Real Betis in the summer of 2013.

In other West Ham news, it can be REVEALED that the club have been hit by a devastating player blow.

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