Ex-Sunderland boss David Moyes reveals he nearly signed current Liverpool talisman for Black Cats

Former Sunderland manager David Moyes has revealed that he came close to signing talismanic Liverpool full-back Andy Robertson while he was at the Stadium of Light.

The Scottish boss spent an ill-fated season on Wearside, suffering relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2016/17 campaign. His tenure was hallmarked by a number of unsuccessful ventures into the transfer market, but he has now claimed that the Black Cats almost completed a deal for the much-heralded Robertson.

At the time, the defender was on the books at Hull City, having joined the Tigers from Dundee United in 2014. For his part, Moyes tried to lure him to the North East, but was ultimately unable to get an agreement over the line. In the summer of 2017, Robertson would go on to join Liverpool, where he has been ever since.

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Speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap podcast, Moyes said: “Andy Robertson, if you remember, left Scotland, Queen’s Park, to go to Hull City [sic]. I actually thought I’d done a deal to get him to come to Sunderland.

“I was the manager at Sunderland at the time, and I met his agents and tried to sort out a deal to get him to come from Hull to Sunderland, but at that time, Hull and Sunderland were both near the bottom of the league and in competition, so we didn’t get him. But there’s a million hard luck stories in football.”

Robertson has enjoyed an immensely successful stint at Anfield since completing a transfer worth an initial £8 million. Now 30, he has won a Premier League, a Champions League, an FA Cup, a FIFA Club World Cup, and two EFL Cups. At international level, he has also amassed 74 caps for Scotland, representing his nation at two European Championships. For his part, Moyes is currently out of work having parted company with West Ham at the end of last season.