Marseille teenager Maxime Lopez has revealed that Liverpool approached him last year, telling him that he would be Philippe Coutinho’s successor five years down the line. Lopez was linked with Liverpool earlier and has now revealed that he was taken to a match at Anfield, where he met Reds legend Steven Gerrard and was told that he could be groomed into the Brazilian playmaker’s replacement.

He told L’Equipe (h/t The Sun):

“They even told me: ‘In five years, you will be playing in place of Coutinho!’. They really smooth-talked me well. I even met Steven Gerrard, at the stadium, after the match. I wanted to go, but I also wanted to stay at Marseille.”

The teenager signed a new contract with Marseille last month and is looking to be settling down well with the club. Lopez has made 26 appearances for Marseille this season and has scored 1 goal and has provided 7 assists.

Given that he is just 19 years old, the numbers look very impressive and it indicates the potential that the player that has. Liverpool would have surely benefited from signing the player which they almost did. When a legend like Steven Gerrard who knows in and out about playing in central midfield, speaks to a player and tries to convince him, it wouldn’t be without a reason.

Maxime Lopez is undoubtedly a huge talent and Liverpool might have just missed out on signing a gem there. However, with the horde of talents available in world football, who can virtually become world class in the future, the miss won’t be regretted too much by the Reds and they will be keen on planning further ahead and search for other players instead.

At a very young age of 19, Lopez is already perfect with his passing and set-piece abilities. Handling set-pieces is becoming a rare art these days and there are very few specialists in that department.

He is also a player who loves to shoot from distance and also plays effective air balls to open defences up. These are qualities that are gained by a player over a period of many years and experience. However, it looks like these abilities are natural for Lopez and surely, he would develop into an unbelievable player in the future.

Let’s hope Liverpool manage to convince him to join Anfield in the future. Until then, good luck Maxime!

https://youtu.be/oT-N5scx6Lw