Liverpool failed in late moves for centre-back duo Marcelo and Duje Caleta-Car, according to reports.
The Reds were forced to enter the January transfer market after Joel Matip joined Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez in suffering a season-ending injury last week.
Jurgen Klopp’s side pursued multiple options and completed deals for Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak before Monday’s 11pm deadline.
Davies arrives at Anfield in a deal worth up to £1.6m, while Liverpool have signed Kabak on loan with an option to buy the Turkey international from Schalke for £18m in the summer.
But had things turned out differently, Marcelo and Caleta-Car might now be on Merseyside instead.
According to The Sun, Liverpool’s pursuit of Lyon defender Marcelo was ended due to the French side’s own injury crisis.
Klopp thought the 33-year-old would bring some much-needed experience to his backline, but Jason Denayer’s injury at the weekend scuppered the deal.
Meanwhile, RMC Sport reports that Marseille rejected a £20m bid for Caleta-Car.
The Ligue 1 side turned the offer down due to concerns that they would not be able to find a replacement before the window closed.
Caleta-Car could leave Marseille in the summer after an impressive season at the Stade Velodrome.
Davies has signed a five-year deal with Liverpool, who sent Sepp van den Berg on loan to Deepdale as part of the deal.
And Klopp admitted that he would not have been in the market for two centre-backs had injuries not struck.
“What I like about Ben is it just shows that each situation creates opportunities,” he said. “I think it’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, without any issues, we would not look at Preston if there’s a player for us or something like that. It’s not really likely.
“But since we saw him and since our situation got clearer and clearer – the problems we had – when we saw him we got really excited about it and thought: ‘Wow.’
“He’s a boy who played his whole life for Preston, is around the corner pretty much. We see the potential really. I love a lot about his play. He’s a really good footballer, looks like a proper leader in this Preston team.”
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