Richie McCormack

Making his 11th appearance that afternoon at Anfield was another Dane

who had to prove himself to the Anfield hierarchy, that being Jan Mulby.

The midfielder had been a £200,000 signing from Ajax in the summer of 1984, but only after he'd accepted a 10-day trial at Liverpool.

The likes of Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday had also been considering signing Moby, who had to endure long spells out of favour with Fagan that season.

Rewinding back to the summer of 83, when the deal for Laudrup collapsed, Liverpool did indeed add to their attack, taking another Ireland international, Michael Robinson this time,

in from Brighton.

Not that any of that was a concern to Laudrup as he'd secured a move to Juventus.

Negotiations with the Turin club had been on the go before Liverpool even arrived at the table and a deal with Juve was struck that would allow Laudrup to remain at Brombo until November of 84.

That holding pattern was deemed necessary as at the time there was a limit of two foreigners or stranieri for each Serie A squad and Juve already had Michel Platini and Zbigniew Moniak in place for the 83-84 season.

However, Juve began to worry that the Italian federation would reintroduce their ban on foreign players and hatched a scheme to loan Laudrup to newly promoted Lazio at least for the first year of his Bianconeri contract.

Laudrup made an immediate impact in Rome scoring three goals in his first two Lazio games

A second season in the Eternal City followed, with Juve hanging on to Platini and Boniek for another campaign, and Laudrup would have to wait until 1985 to make an impact at Juventus, joining a team that had just won the European Cup after, ironically enough, playing Liverpool on that ill-fated night in Heysel.

Laudrup would win the Serie A title during his first season with Juve, but as his career went on there, it seemed less and less of a natural fit, and he also failed to spark alongside ex-Liverpool striker Ian Rush after the Welshman's own big money arrive-up in 1987.

Joe Fagan, much like Ernest Lott I suppose, didn't have the transitional season that many had expected at Liverpool.

In the spring of 84, he led Liverpool to a fourth League Cup in a row, their 15th League title, and on a famous night in Rome, the club's fourth European Cup.

However, that would be Michael Robinson's one and only season at Anfield as he left for Cupior at Christmas of 85.

And so we're left to ponder how Lauderup would have fared at Liverpool.

Would he have beat a quicker pass to the first team than Jim Beglin?

Would he have been part of that 1984 European Cup winning side?

and would he have outlasted Michael Robinson's 18 months, thus expediting the impending retirement of one Kenny Daglish?