Jurgen Klopp previously proved how much of a fan he was of Rodrygo during his time at Liverpool. The Real Madrid winger – who is reportedly being touted as Son Heung-min's potential replacement at Tottenham Hotspur – was a highly-rated prospect whilst at Santos.
Determined to make the Brazilian a Red, the former Liverpool boss travelled to South America on an 11-hour flight to personally meet the then-16-year-old, according to forward's agent, Nick Arcuri. It was in 2020 when Arcuri claimed the Merseyside side were the first Premier League side to make an approach for Rodrygo with Klopp going the extra mile to seal the deal.
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Speaking on a live YouTube chat, Arcuri said: "When Rodrygo went to sign his first professional contract with Santos, aged 16, a Liverpool director called me saying that Klopp already knew the player, had seen the material, had already come to see Rodrygo personally.
"He had gone on YouTube, searched ‘talents from Brazil’, Rodrygo had appeared and he was very young. He came to Brazil, and liked him. They contacted me, the Liverpool director wanted him to be his first signing, Rodrygo. I went to England, sat in London, Liverpool have an office in London. I brought the proposal to Modesto [Roma Junior], then president of Santos.
"Modesto didn’t accept. It turned out that Santos didn’t want to sell Rodrygo and instead made the first professional contract. But it was Rodrygo’s first official proposal, he was 16 and it was Liverpool."
A move to Anfield never came to fruition, however, with the Brazilian opting to sign for Madrid in 2019 for a fee of £39million.
While the winger, 24, has enjoyed an immensely successful career in Spain with three La Liga titles, two Champions League trophies and a plethora of other honours to his name, his influence on the pitch last season suffered due to the attacking trio of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham.
His decline in action has resulted in speculation linking him away with a move to the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal. However, Spurs have now been entered into the rumour mill with AS reporting that the Europa League champions are targeting his signature as a replacement for Son, who is expected to join LAFC after announcing his intention to leave Spurs on Saturday.
The north London side have already signed a wide player this summer after spending £55m on Mohammed Kudus, but it was only seven months prior that they were looking to sign another player liked by Klopp, after they battled to lure Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain.
Spurs were engaged in discussions to sign the Frenchman on loan in January but he instead opted to choose spending the rest of the season at Juventus, where he netted 10 goals in 22 appearances across all competitions.
It was during his time at Eintracht Frankfurt that Sky Germany reported that the striker rejected the opportunity to join Klopp at Liverpool in what would have been a club-record £88m deal.
He instead remained in the Bundesliga before returning to his homeland in a £76m deal to sign for PSG but has only scored 11 goals in 54 games for the French champions. After returning to form in Italy, the Serie A giants are looking to sign him permanently but could face competition once again from Spurs who'll need to fill the gap left by the South Korean icon.