The Man United reject that Liverpool are desperate to land

The days when Pepe Reina was considered one of football's finest goalkeepers are long gone.

Liverpool's slaphead stopper is getting shakier by the week so attention now turns to the former Man United youth player who Brendan Rodgers wants as his next number one...

Name: Ron-Robert Zieler
Date of birth: February 12, 1989
Birthplace: Cologne, Germany
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Hannover 96
International appearances: Two caps for Germany

What's the latest?
Pepe Reina's dip in form is forcing Brendan Rodgers to consider a January move for the 23-year-old German international, who has a £12.2m release clause inked into his contract. The young man's rise to prominence since leaving Man United has been quite incredible and he is now correctly regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the Bundesliga, alongside compatriot Manuel Neuer.

Did you know?

1) Zieler featured prominently in Man United's U18 side, later sharing duties between the sticks in the reserves with Tom Heaton. He broke his arm in a reserve team outing against Newcastle in 2009, forcing him out for eight months and allowing Ben Amos to jump ahead in the queue as United's back-up goalkeeper.

2) Alex Ferguson instructed one of his trusted scouts in Germany to help Zieler engineer a move to Bundesliga outfit Hannover 96, which was completed following a brief trial in April 2010. The rookie's steady performances for the reserves earned him a first team debut mid-way through the 2010/11 campaign and that's where he's remained ever since, as first choice goalkeeper.

3) After helping his new team to fourth spot and Europa League qualification, Zieler was rewarded with a contract extension in June 2011 which included a buy out clause of £12.2m. An added bonus for dislodging former German U21 stopper Florian Fromlowitz from Hannover's side was a senior international call-up by Joachim Low, for the friendly against Ukraine in November 2011.

4) The Ukraine outing was one to savour, but Zieler made headlines for the wrong reasons during his second international match in August 2012, as the first ever goalkeeper to be sent off for Germany. He came racing off his line to prevent Jose Ernesto Sosa from opening the scoring, but succeeded only in hacking down the Argentine, conceding a penalty and walking off for an early shower.

5) Zieler enjoyed a belter despite losing 4-3 when Hannover faced his former club Man United in a pre-season friendly in August 2012. The performance was singled out by his manager Mirko Slomka, who said: "Look no further than the performance of Ron-Robert Zieler. He was sensational."

He says
"I'm annoyed with the way in which we lost. When you go 3-1 up, of course you want to win. It's always going to be difficult against a forward line as formidable as Manchester United's, though. The fact that we threw the game away - we have to learn from that." - August 2012

They say
"The Hannover goalkeeper [Ron-Robert Zieler] is great, he's really good and has a lot of class" - Germany manager, Joachim Low

Video Evidence

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