Mateo Kovacic
Inter Milan's Kovacic is a special talent in world football.Reuters

After Raheem Sterling's exit to Manchester City for £49 million, Liverpool can afford to go deep into their pockets and sign a world-class player in the summer transfer window, provided their target shows interest.

The Reds have been linked to a number of top players in the recent past and one player that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to add is Inter Milan's Mateo Kovacic. With the departure of two key players, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling, Liverpool have to find possible replacements.

Sadly, they have received a huge blow in their pursuit of signing Croatian midfielder Kovacic, who has been a huge success with Inter Milan. The player wants to stay with the Italian giants as he wants to win more trophies playing for the club.

He joined Inter Milan from Dynamo Zagreb in 2013 and has been gradually improving as a top-class player.

"The club have never said they want to sell me," Kovacic told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Never. I'll stay here. I won't move. That's what I wanted, that's what my renewal until 2019 shows, there will be a long relationship between myself and Inter.

"I want to show that I deserve Inter. I want to win with this shirt. Inter is like Real [Madrid] or Barcelona."

With Raheem Sterling's move to Manchester City official, there is a possibility of Liverpool intensifying their approach to lure Kovacic to Anfield, but the Croatian believes that he and Sterling are two different players with diverse roles.

"Could I replace Sterling? We have two different roles. It's not for me to say whether there have been any offers from the Reds or not, hopefully that's down to my agent," said Kovacic.

"That said, I'll repeat myself - I. Want. To. Be. Here."

Though from above, one understands that Kovacic has major plans with Inter Milan and prefers to stay at San Siro, but in football, and especially in the transfer market, anything can happen.

Players in the past have expressed their desire to stay with their club, but have contradicted themselves by moving to another club. One such instance is Luka Modric's move from Totteham Hotspur to Real Madrid.

Despite Kovacic's love for Inter Milan, can Liverpool find a way to sign the Croatian midfielder?