You'd have to be pretty intensely focused on the World Cup to have not heard about Liverpool's move for Nabil Fekir over the last few days.

The dealings between the Reds and Lyon have dominated transfer news ever since it was revealed that a fee had been agreed for the Lyon captain.

And then things moved fast - Fekir agreed a deal, completed his medical, did an interview for Liverpool in the club's shirt, and even reportedly chose his squad number.

But then, as abrupt as can be, the deal collapsed.

Logic would lead anyone to believe that any issues would be around the player's knee, which required reconstructive surgery in 2015.

Exactly what happened after that is up for debate; in France, the line appears to be that Liverpool attempted to renegotiate, whereas the English press seems to believe they pulled out entirely.

Either way, Liverpool have taken a gamble here in not completing a deal for their number one target when it was right there in front of them.

And while some criticise the club for not taking a chance on Fekir and signing him regardless, two deals from their recent past suggest they've got this one spot on.

In 2011, Liverpool were strong favourites to complete a deal for French winger Sylvain Marveaux, only to opt out after his medical and leave him for Newcastle United to sign.

Now, Marveuax obviously was never on the level of Fekir but he was a player with talents that the Reds needed at the time.

Hindsight, however, proved their withdrawal entirely correct; Marveuax required hip surgery just three months into the season and played just 38 Premier League games in three years on Tyneside.

Similarly, Liverpool were on the verge of signing Loic Remy in 2014 but things went south, as Remy himself explained.

"I came for the medical tests and everything was fine and after that, they [Liverpool] wanted to be sure everything was fine with my heart," he said after joining Chelsea.

"They asked for a specialist for the heart and apparently the guy said they did not 100 per cent agree if I could keep going or had to stop football."

Not something you take a chance on. Liverpool would eventually sign Mario Balotelli instead and while that didn't exactly work out, Remy never did look like a player at his peak with Chelsea.

Leaving Fekir behind will not have been an easy decision but it's one Liverpool have made before - and they haven't got it wrong yet.