Liverpool Echo
Midfielder set to sign for Manchester United made revealing Liverpool admissionWe pay for stories! Send your videos to video@trinitymirror.com
Liverpool have had some stinkers of transfer windows since the current system was first introduced back in 2002/03.
Admittedly, they got off to a pretty woeful start with that first summer seeing them sign El Hadji-Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou, Salif Diao, Patrice Luzi and Alou Diarra for just short of £20m as Gerard Houllier ’s side started the campaign as Premier League title contenders but ended up failing to even qualify for the Champions League. Still, at least supporter backlash played a part in them pulling the plug on a £9m deal to sign controversial midfielder Lee Bowyer.
In hindsight, Rafa Benitez ’s final two summer windows have not aged well. Spending roughly £40m in each window, the Reds signed Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri, David N’Gog, Robbie Keane, Peter Gulacsi and Albert Riera in the summer of 2008 and Alberto Aquilani, Glen Johnson and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, while losing the services of Xabi Alonso, 12 months later.
Yet his hands were admittedly tied by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet, with such incomings immediately overshadowed by the summer transfer window of 2010/11. Overseen by Roy Hodgson, it’s still enough to make Kopites wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night as they recall Javier Mascherano going on strike to force through a move to Barcelona and the combined £25m arrivals of Jonjo Shelvey, Milan Jovanovic, Danny Wilson, Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen, Brad Jones, Raul Meireles and Paul Konchesky…
