Liverpool Transfers: 5 Best and 5 Worst of the Last 10 Years

It promises to be another dramatic transfer window for Liverpool, with high-profile arrivals and departures expected.

The Reds have had mixed fortunes in the market over the past decade, with plenty of excellent purchases made alongside plenty of shocking ones too.

Here, we recount some of the Anfield club’s five best and five worst deals since 2003.

Best: Xabi Alonso, £10.7m from Real Sociedad, August 2004

One of the key arrivals alongside new manager Rafael Benitez in the summer of 2004, Xabi Alonso quickly won many friends on The Kop thanks to his terrific passing ability and classy style.

Alonso scored Liverpool's equaliser in the dramatic Champions League final victory over AC Milan in 2005 after his initial penalty had been saved by goalkeeper Dida, and he followed up that success by lifting the FA Cup the following season.

At his best he made Liverpool tick, and his rise to becoming one of the best midfielders in the world coincided with the Reds' powerful displays under Benitez, but he fell out with the boss following a dip in form, and with rumours circulating that Liverpool were going to sign Gareth Barry, Alonso left for Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 for £30 million, almost treble what Liverpool paid for him.

He played 210 times for the Reds, scoring 19 goals.

Best: Luis Garcia, £6m from Barcelona, August 2004

Arriving at the same time as Alonso, the talented little attacker Luis Garcia would go on to provide so much of the fantasy and flair to Benitez's team.

Capable of playing in a variety of roles, Garcia was a key ingredient in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League win, scoring three goals across both legs of the second-round clash with Bayer Leverkusen, before a stunning Anfield strike against Juventus in the quarter-finals and then the infamous goal which beat Chelsea in the last four.

A man for the big occasion, he scored in Merseyside derbies and against Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final too.

He left for Atletico Madrid in 2007, but his name is still frequently sung on the Anfield terraces today.

Best: Fernando Torres, £26.5m from Atletico Madrid, July 2007

It seems bizarre to think about it at the time, but there were question marks over Fernando Torres' goalscoring record when he joined Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2007.

Following a transfer which was partly offset by sending Garcia the other way, Torres exploded into Liverpool life, scoring a staggering 33 goals in his first season in English football.

In his day there was simply no better forward in European football, and the Spanish ace plundered a total of 81 goals in 142 games for the Reds until January 2011.

After initially becoming disillusioned with life under Roy Hodgson and out of the Champions League, an agitated Torres eventually moved to Chelsea for a huge £50 million, almost double what the Reds paid for him.

Best: Maxi Rodriguez, Free from Atletico Madrid, January 2010

During a decade which has seen Liverpool often mistakenly spend big money, the free transfer of Maxi Rodriguez was a welcome change in direction.

Benitez's final signing, Rodriguez offered balance and the ability to pop up with goals just when Liverpool needed them.

Highlights included hat-tricks against Birmingham City and Fulham at the tail end of Kenny Dalglish's first season back in charge, and although his Reds career wasn't the longest, he certainly gave his all for the club in his two-and-a-half seasons with the Reds before a move back to Argentina last summer.

Best: Luis Suarez, £22.8m from Ajax, January 2011

So much is said and written about Suarez of course, but there can be little doubt that on ability alone the £22.8 million Liverpool paid for him from Ajax in January 2011 looks like a bargain.

The Uruguayan is a sublime footballer, and whether or not the controversies that have dogged his stay in English football diminish his talents in the eyes of many, Liverpool have benefitted hugely from his contributions, not least during the most recent season when he scored 30 goals.

A move away may beckon this summer, when Liverpool will be looking for at least double what they paid for him.

Worst: Andriy Voronin, Free from Bayer Leverkusen, July 2007

On the plus side he was a free transfer, but there wasn't an awful lot else to be positive about concerning Andriy Voronin's Liverpool career.

After agreeing to a move for him in February 2007, Liverpool announced Voronin's signing the following summer, and he started with a bang thanks to a fine goal from long range in a Champions League qualifier at Toulouse.

There weren't many other highlights though, and fans thought they'd seen the back of the pony-tailed forward when he joined Hertha Berlin on loan in 2008, only for him to return to the Reds the following season due to a lack of forward options.

He notoriously missed a host of costly chances in a Champions League draw away at Lyon in 2009, and he eventually left the Reds for Dynamo Moscow early the next year.

Worst: Andrea Dossena, £7m from Udinese, July 2008

He may have achieved cult status at Anfield given the fact that his only two Liverpool goals came in goal-filled hammerings of Real Madrid and Manchester United within the same week, but Liverpool would have expected more of the £7 million they invested in Andrea Dossena.

The left-sided Italian appeared to struggle to adapt to life in England, and competing with Fabio Aurelio and Emiliano Insua for a left-back slot, he struggled to find any consistency.

The goals against Real and at Old Trafford were rare highlights, and Dossena was moved on to Napoli a year-and-a-half after he signed.

Worst: Robbie Keane, £20m from Tottenham, July 2008

Robbie Keane tried so hard to turn his dream move to Liverpool into a success, but some things simply aren't meant to be.

The Irishman's big-money move from Tottenham Hotspur was supposed to be the realisation of everything he had worked so hard to achieve over an impressive career.

It took Keane 11 games to get off the mark for the Reds until a goal against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League, but he would score just six more times over his brief Reds career.

Frequently struggling to get into Rafael Benitez's team due to the partnership forged by Torres and Steven Gerrard, Keane moved back to Spurs just six months after he'd left for around £13 million.

Alberto Aquilani, £17m from Roma, August 2009

Things could have been so different for Alberto Aquilani were it not for his frequent injuries, but he was ultimately a huge letdown.

Seen as a replacement for Alonso when he arrived from Roma in 2009, the Italian was already carrying an ankle injury when he arrived, and things never really got going for him.

He scored in the Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid at the end of the 2009/10 campaign, but when Roy Hodgson replaced Benitez as manager he decided to loan Aquilani to Juventus.

A further loan spell at AC Milan followed before he made a permanent move to Fiorentina last summer, with plenty of fans hoping to see him gain another chance with the Reds.

Worst: Andy Carroll, £35m from Newcastle, January 2011

In the crazy few hours surrounding the arrival of Suarez and the departure of Torres at Liverpool on the final day of the January 2011 transfer window, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley rejected a £30 million bid from the Reds for Andy Carroll.

He eventually accepted the eye-watering fee of £35 million, and the young Geordie forward was immediately placed on a hiding to nothing.

Injury problems and a struggle to adapt to Liverpool's style of play held Carroll back, and although he scored the winner in an FA Cup semi-final against Everton and in the final against Chelsea, things always looked destined to never work out for him.

New manager Brendan Rodgers didn't see a place for Carroll in his plans when he arrived last summer, and since his loan spell at West Ham has now come to an end, he isn't expected to be seen in a Liverpool shirt again.

The Reds' record signing played 58 times for Liverpool, scoring 11 goals.