Make it Rain - Liverpool FC
As our series continues on spending in the Premier League over the last decade, today we take a look at Liverpool FC.
Spent - $961m
Received - $624m
Liverpool rank as one of the highest spenders over the past decade but with little success to show for it. The Reds' transfer policy has been well documented and the spending from the hierarchy on new players has backfired. The Reds were coming off the back of a stellar period of European football and we ready to launch back to the top of the Premier League.
Unfortunately, large transfer fees on players such as Ryan Babel, Robbie Keane, Andy Carroll, Alberto Aquilani and Lazar Markovic just to name few of many, stalled their pursuit of domination. Over the last 10 years, Liverpool banked hefty profits from the sale of Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres, then invested the money in half-baked players that were arguably not fit to pull on the Reds' jersey.
They challenged for the title in 2014/15 narrowly missing out on the title to Manchester City. It was a case of what could have been for the Reds if only Steven Gerrard was able to keep his feet. Beside that, the side from Anfield found some success in the FA Cup and English Cup.
They are only now starting to show signs of hitting the lofty heights set by their teams for the nighties and early 2000's.
Number of trophies - 3 (1 x FA Cup, 1 x FA League Cup, 1 x FA Community Shield)
Rare find - Phillipe Coutinho ($18.9m)
Now this category was hard to pick a clear winner as a case could easily be made for Luis Suarez for the impact and profit he made for the Reds and for Steven Gerrard, well, for being himself. We'll stick with a current player though in this case. Coutinho arrived for a small fee from Inter Milan and has now arguably become Liverpool's most important player.
His deadly ball play from midfield backed up with his scoring prowess has seen him rise to be one of the brightest and most sought after young stars in the world.
Most expensive - Christian Benteke ($67.7m)
Benteke arrived with a solid scoring record for Aston Villa and several seasons of press asking when he was going to step up to one of the top tier teams. Benteke was slow to get going and eventually slipped down to late appearances off the bench. A change in manager saw The Beast shipped off at the start of this season for a decent loss to Crystal Palace.
Who though could forget his goal against the Reds' fiercest rival?
Waste of money - Andy Carroll ($59.7m)
Carroll was purchased close to deadline day on the back of the sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea. The Merseyside team were desperate to fill the void left by Torres and they would still be regretting the decision today to bring Carroll to Anfield. He transferred for a then English player record fee and never slotted into the Reds lineup. He was sold for half of what the Reds paid Newcastle for him to West Ham and has still yet to find his touch in English football.
Next up - Manchester United
All prices shown are in $AUD
Comments