A sum total of 1295 days have ticked down since the lesser-spotted Lazar Markovic last pulled on a Red shirt in anger and made a competitive appearance for Liverpool.
Brought in during the Brendan Rodgers era, the Serbian wideman is on a reported £50,000 per week deal at the club, giving a simple explanation for why the 24-year-old seems so keen to see out the long-term deal that brought him to the club and is due to tick down to zero this summer.
That means, according to the estimations of the Liverpool Echo, that the Merseyside club have paid the former Benfica man £9.25million since his last appearance in a meek loss to Aston Villa at Wembley in April 2015.
His total wage bill since his arrival from Portugal adds up to a staggering £11m. Having only appeared 34 times for the club, his wages work out at a quite incredible £332,000 per game.
His spells on loan have taken him from Istanbul to Lisbon, from Hull to Brussels, but Markovic is said to have baulked when an offer of a permanent deal away from his cushy arrangement with the Reds.
Markovic was pictured in Brussels last summer as a deal to sort a permanent stay for him with at Anderlecht, only for it to hit the rocks at the last minute.
The club’s manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck said: "Our president and sports director did everything to convince Markovic."
“They waited until Liverpool lowered the price. They almost did a crazy effort for the player, but it wasn’t enough. It’s his own fault that the deal fell through.”
