Former Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov admits he could've bought Liverpool for £200m.

Romanov, speaking to Sport-Express from his own submarine, also revealed he was ready to sell Steven Gerrard to fund the deal.

He recalled: "We played Liverpool when I was at Kaunas and we were a goal up. I agreed a deal with David Moores, who was their chairman, to buy them for £200 million.

"At the time, my budget at Hearts was tiny as I said, but we even drew up a preliminary contract. Unfortunately my financial partner Oleg Deripaska wouldn't agree to releasing the funds for it.

"But I told him we would have got £120 million back straight away by selling Steven Gerrard to Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. He would have paid that.

"They ended up selling Liverpool for £600 million to the Americans. It's the biggest regret in my business life."