If you stop and think long and hard about it, it’s mad how much love there is for a transfer. Sometimes just ANY transfer.
Despite all the things that can potentially go wrong – the player doesn’t settle, the personality doesn’t fit, his family doesn’t like it, and a whole host of other potential hurdles – there is a perpetual clamour for another spin of the transfer wheel from us fans.
For 27 years, Liverpool has been striking deals for players in what we routinely refer now as “The Premier League era”. And in that time splashing the cash has resulted in the good, the bad, and the ugly posing with scarves and pulling on the kit at Anfield.
The brilliant lfchistory.net tells us that 748 players have played in competitive matches for Liverpool FC since 1892. So, since the Premier League rebrand, the money and the satellite tv cameras, who have been the five most fantastic to wear the Liverbird on their chests (and who do we wish had taken their services elsewhere)?
Picking the best is harder task than you think. Should it purely be based on the assumption that statistics don’t lie? What about value for money? Is it impact? Influence? Something else?
The beauty of it is that we can all argue something different. So let’s get the ball rolling, (in no particular order) here are my five belters. Don't @ me.
Luis Suarez: Games: 133. Goals: 82. Honours: League Cup 2012.
Cannibalistic-controversy magnet or not, the neck-munching Freddie Mercury-a-like was some signing for Liverpool. Many a bum twitched at his football charge sheet when he was linked with a move from Ajax to The Reds, and it was his wild side that seemingly scared other suitors away, but he was soon accepted into the loving arms of Liverpool.
At just £22.8million, it was soon clear that a bargain had been bagged, and two seasons showing 30 and 31 goals during his three-year stay speak for themselves. After some grim times with Messrs Hicks, Gillett and Hodgson stinking the place out, Suarez helped to put the smile back on Kopite faces – and he was so nearly part of a league-winning side.
The ‘legend’ conversation is for another time, but when you throw a true club legend under the bus with your actions, refuse to make good, and then bail for Barcelona after spitting your dummy out of the pram when denied a move, then it’s a no for me, Clive. No doubting the quality of the transfer though – and what a player.
Fernando Torres: Games: 142. Goals: 81. Honours: None.
Twenty million quid for the man whose armband proved he was a Red was a snip. For a stark reminder of how dear he was held to Scouse hearts, you only had to read some of the fan reaction to his recent retirement from the game. There was love, there was loathing. But there was very little indifference.
Torres was a bonafide hero, a man who made you believe, who dovetailed so brilliant with Steven Gerrard. But then, he left. For so many that led to a vow to never be sucked in again.
How could he have ‘got it’ so readily only to leave and sign for them? Again, that’s a tale for another time, but it’s fair to say the Liverpool he left was not the Liverpool he signed up for. And he never, ever looked happy at Chelsea.
At his best, he was among the very best. That goal v Blackburn. The undressing of Manchester United at Old Trafford and the celebration that followed. That first flitter of Anfield magic against Chelsea. Great times, great moments, great player.
Mo Salah: Games: 104. Goals: 71. Honours: Champions League 2019.
Time was when this transfer was described as over-priced and the saga that surrounded it left some weary and wary. As hard as it is to fathom now, the Egyptian King was also perceived to be wasteful in front of goal on the early evidence in red. Now look.
A deal of around £38m must still make Roma dealmakers wince, while a 44-goal debut season, followed by a 27-goal Champions League-winning campaign, means Mo is now routinely bracketed in the £150m bracket.
As deals go, this one gets better and better. As for the player, well despite closer attention from defenders, and the grasping for crisis-talk around his form from pundits, Mo keeps on going and keeps on scoring. And now he’s a champion of Europe to boot. Like the very best of players, he is now treated on Merseyside as one of our own.
Sami Hyypia: Games: 464. Goals: 35. Honours: FA Cup 2001, 2006; League Cup 2001, 2003; Champions League 2005; UEFA Cup 2001.
A decade at the club, a leader, a legend, a captain and surely one of the biggest bargains in football history, never mind in the lifetime of the Premier League.
In football terms, £2.5m is forgotten about change down the side of the couch, and that’s all Liverpool had to fork out for the Finn, who was recommended by a TV cameraman who spotted him kicking round in the Dutch league.
A dominant defender, big Sami seemed to win everything in the air. And he wasn’t shy at the other end of the pitch either, his 35 goals eclipsing some of the other Liverpool greats in his position, including Alan Hansen (14), Mark Lawrenson (18), Phil Thompson (13) and Ron Yeats (16).
The unflappable Finn also registered three of those goals in Champions League quarter-finals – in 2002 against Leverkusen, 2005 against Juventus and 2008 against Arsenal.
When it was all over even the man made of rock had a tear in his eye as he waved goodbye at Anfield. What a bye bye. And what a buy.
Virgil Van Dijk: Games 72. Goals 7. Honours: Champions League 2019.
When Big Virgil stood by the Christmas tree holding a Liverpool shirt, what a present that was for fans who had watched too many errors too many times at the centre of The Reds’ defence.
This was the one that they wanted behind the scenes, and they paid top dollar accordingly – Southampton knowing they had Liverpool over a barrel following the tapping up wrist-slap that had preceded his sale.
Pundits pondered that Jürgen Klopp had paid too much. Even the manager revealed he had to be convinced to pay a world record £75m for a defender.
Yet now, after watching a man lift all around him with commanding performances week in, week out, culminating in the glory of Madrid, he was clearly worth every penny – and more.
With Manchester United being quoted £90m for Harry Maguire, it’s the transfer that keeps on giving.
