Man United is preparing to welcome Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals and perhaps Erik ten Hag is longing to have a few of The Kop’s stars in the squad.

Virgil van Dijk is the most transformative signing of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure. Some people were upset with the £75 million price Liverpool had to pay Southampton in January 2018 for the Dutch midfielder. However, the Anfield side have won seven major trophies in that period with van Dijk at the foundation – and he is now club captain.

Before his serious knee injury, most people agreed that Van Dijk was the best centre-back in the world. And he played extremely well this season to regain that title.

The Daily Mail reported that Man United really wanted to recruit Van Dijk from Southampton but they quickly realized that the deal would be rejected because the Dutch player was determined to move to Anfield.

Cody Gakpo is another player heavily linked with the Old Trafford team. The versatile striker enjoyed a prolific first half of the 2022-23 season with PSV Eindhoven as he scored 13 goals and provided 17 assists in all competitions. Gakpo is a player that Ten Hag knows well from his time in the Eredivisie. The 24-year-old player himself admitted that he thought he would sign with the Red Devils. But then, Liverpool bought Gakpo in the January 2023 transfer window. It was a shock to many people.

According to ESPN, Ten Hag was very disappointed about this, but Man United could not match Liverpool’s financial package at that time. Gakpo has scored a total of 20 goals in 67 matches for Liverpool and is one of the players with the most appearances for the club this season.

In addition, 4 young talents in the Liverpool squad are also sought after by Man United. Conor Bradley has had a fantastic breakthrough campaign and performed flawlessly in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s absence through injury.

Bradley moved to Merseyside from Northern Irish side Dungannon Swifts when he was just 16 years old. The right-back recently admitted he refused to go on trial in Manchester not because he was a fan of The Kop as a teenager, but because it was like a ‘family club’.

Jarell Quansah has been with Liverpool since he was 8 years old and has always had his heart for Liverpool. But he also trained at Man United and Man City as a teenager. The centre-back said: “I went everywhere to see what was there: I went to City, United, Wigan, Bolton… all of them. I just remember Liverpool offered the best training programme. That’s where I love football the most and that’s why I stay.”

Bobby Clark scored his first goal in Liverpool’s 6-1 demolition of Sparta Praha in the Europa League round of 16 second leg. The midfielder joined Liverpool from Newcastle United in the summer of 2021 for a fee that could reach up to £1.5 million. The Athletic reported that Liverpool ‘went the extra mile’ to persuade Clark to choose Anfield over Man United, Man City and Tottenham Hotspur.

A year ago, Stefan Bajcetic was forced to have adductor muscle surgery and missed the rest of the season. The midfielder is a ray of light in Liverpool’s lackluster 2022-23 season despite being only 18 years old. His father Srdan told El Mundo that when they learned that Man United wanted Bajcetic, Liverpool took action quickly, when he was just 16 years old.