How A Transfer Fee Standoff Sent Robertson To Anfield Instead Of Goodison

A Deal That Never Quite Got Over The Line

It’s strange to think that one of Liverpool’s most beloved full-backs of the last decade almost ended up across Stanley Park instead. Andy Robertson has confirmed that Everton tried to sign him back in January 2013, when he was still a teenager plying his trade at Dundee United, in a move that would have sent a very different version of his career down Merseyside’s blue half of the divide.

Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, Robertson laid out just how close it came. Everton’s then manager Roberto Martinez had gone up to Scotland himself to watch him play, and the plan was for Robertson to go back to Dundee United on loan for the rest of that season before returning to Goodison Park to learn behind Leighton Baines, with a path to becoming first choice down the line.

Money, Not Football, Killed The Move

What’s notable here is that this wasn’t a case of Robertson having reservations, or Everton losing interest. By his own telling, the transfer simply came down to valuation. Everton were willing to pay around £750,000, but Dundee United held out for £1.5 million and wouldn’t budge. The Scottish club’s stance was ultimately vindicated when they sold Robertson for £2.85m that summer instead, a deal that took him to Hull City rather than Everton, and set him on the path to Liverpool four years later.

We’d argue this is one of those quiet reminders of how fine the margins in football recruitment really are. A club with slightly deeper pockets, or a selling side with slightly less resolve, and Robertson’s entire career takes a different shape. Instead, he went on to become one of the defining full-backs of Liverpool’s most successful modern era, and the player Everton considered a squad option became a genuine legend across the park.

A Strange Kind Of Homecoming

Robertson left Liverpool on a free transfer this summer and is now with Tottenham, which made his first return to Anfield in a Carabao Cup tie an emotionally loaded occasion. Spurs lost 3-1 on the night, with Robertson introduced from the bench, and he later admitted the whole experience felt strange, while speaking warmly about the reception he received from the home end.

That reaction says plenty about how Robertson is remembered on Merseyside, regardless of which end of the pitch he lines up on now. Everton’s interest all those years ago is a fascinating footnote, but it’s Anfield, not Goodison, where his story was always going to be written. Sometimes a stubborn valuation from a selling club ends up doing a rival’s business for them, and Liverpool have Dundee United’s negotiating position to thank for one of their great full-backs.