Dejan Lovren and 12 Other Liverpool Transfer Mistakes
Liverpool have made many mistakes in the transfer market since the Premier League's inception, and Dejan Lovren is the latest in that long line.
Reds manager Brendan Rodgers must be assessing the 25-year-old's form and considering when Lovren should be consigned to his personal list of transfer errors—let alone the club's history.
Former Red Jamie Carragher recently claimed, per the Liverpool Echo, that Liverpool "have to persist" with the defender.
The Croatian may still develop at Anfield, but how long must Lovren be given before his £20 million fee is considered a mistake?
Here are 13 Liverpool transfer mistakes from the Premier League era, including the centre-back.
Those included make this list for various reasons, so it is vital to establish a criteria for inclusion.
Players have made this list for various reasons—and some remain at the club—but to be considered a mistake, a player should subjectively have not justified their transfer fee, failed to adequately replace a departing player or fit a particular system with glaring distinction.
These transfers are ranked in no particular order. Feel free to debate the biggest Liverpool transfer mistakes of the Premier League era in the comments section below.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com and LFCHistory.net, with transfer fees from Transfermarkt.co.uk.
Dejan Lovren (£22.3m, 2014)
1 of 13
Following his £22.3 million summer transfer, Lovren was feted by Rodgers as "exactly what I’ve been looking for since Jamie Carragher left," per The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe.
However, Lovren has so far looked far from a commanding presence and desperately needs instruction.
Furthermore, the high-profile nature of Lovren's signing almost demands Rodgers' devotion, given the Reds boss had already made a big-money centre-back signing in £18 million Mamadou Sakho the previous summer.
Despite it being early days for the centre-back, who may yet prove to be a valuable player for Rodgers' side, Lovren can be considered a transfer mistake for two reasons.
The Croatian was an unsuitable replacement for the authoritative Carragher, and his signing failed to address the need for a strong right-sided centre-back.
Alberto Aquilani (£17.6m, 2009)
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Signed to replace the departing Xabi Alonso in 2009, £17.6 million man Alberto Aquilani never quite got to grips with life in the Premier League.
The ex-Roma midfielder struggled initially at Anfield due to joining the club with an injury and never caught up after recovering.
Aquilani made 18 Premier League appearances before spending two seasons out on loan, first at Juventus and then AC Milan. Under Rodgers, the midfielder probably had the best chance stylistically, but he was considered surplus to requirements and joined Fiorentina on a permanent deal in 2012.
Liverpool’s mistake was to attempt to replace one of the best midfielders in the club's history with the Italian who, at 25, was injury prone and had never been a truly exceptional player.
Sean Dundee (£2.4m, 1998)
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Widely considered as one of the worst Liverpool strikers of the Premier League era, South African-German goalscorer Sean Dundee joined Roy Evans' side along with Steve Staunton in the summer of 1998.
Making no impact at Anfield, Dundee was forced further into the periphery by Evans' successor Gerard Houllier, and the striker explained how "even when there were only two strikers fit—myself and Karl-Heinz Riedle—I never got a look in," per Declan Warrington of the Daily Mail.
The striker stated that he "just [couldn't] understand it." But most Reds fans would gladly fill Dundee in with a list of reasons.
The striker made just five substitute appearances for the Reds before leaving for Stuttgart just 12 months later.
In retrospect, Evans described signing Dundee as a "regret," responding to a question posed on Twitter.
Andy Carroll (£36m, 2011)
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The obvious mistake with Andy Carroll's £36 million transfer from Newcastle United to Anfield was the incredible fee paid for the striker.
However, that was offset by the £50 million Liverpool received from Chelsea for departing forward Fernando Torres.
The enduring error in the target man's move to Merseyside related to playing style, with Rodgers admitting that with Carroll in the side "everything has to be set up around [him]," per the Daily Mail's John Edwards.
This jarred on the manager's system, and in particular the talents of Luis Suarez, with the Uruguayan recently claiming, according to The Telegraph, that in "a short, passing game in which you are looking to release people into space, [Carroll] doesn't fit."
Carroll's transfer didn't suit the famed Liverpool way.
Paul Konchesky (£3.5m and Players, 2010)
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If there is one player who symbolises everything that was negative about Roy Hodgson's spell as Liverpool manager, it would be left-back Paul Konchesky.
Joining from Fulham in the summer of 2010, Hodgson described the defender as "the right man for the job," per LFCHistory, but Konchesky failed to impress the Anfield faithful.
The England international made 15 league appearances for the Reds before subsequent managers saw fit to lend his talents elsewhere.
That Hodgson sent Fulham two promising young players in Lauri Dalla Valle and Alexander Kacaniklic—the latter in particular impressing at times in the Premier League and beyond since—sours the deal even more.
Mario Balotelli (£17.6m, 2014)
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Replacing the effervescent Suarez was always going to be an impossible task, but the man tasked with this role is proving to be the antithesis of the Uruguayan.
Suarez was energetic, prolific and hugely determined, and he served as Liverpool's first defender, whereas £17.6 million summer signing Mario Balotelli has huffed and puffed with little output so far for the Reds.
After nine league games, Balotelli has yet to score or make an assist, struggling as a lone striker.
The Italian is unfortunate to find himself in this situation and has expressed a desire to "always go with two strikers," per Bascombe for The Telegraph, but Daniel Sturridge's injury situation has thwarted this.
Balotelli qualifies as a mistake in this regard due to his sheer unsuitability to Rodgers' post-Suarez system.
Charlie Adam (£7.4m, 2011)
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After a phenomenal season under Ian Holloway during Blackpool's spell in the Premier League in 2010/11, Charlie Adam made a £7.4 million move to Merseyside.
Adam failed to reproduce his impressive performances at a higher level, scoring two goals and making six assists in 28 league games.
Steven Gerrard featuring in a midfield of Adam, Jonjo Shelvey and Jay Spearing just three seasons after playing alongside Alonso and Javier Mascherano underlines the downturn in quality the Scot's acquisition signalled.
Turfed out to Stoke City the following season, Adam proved a transfer mistake by Liverpool due his failure to cut it at the level required.
Stewart Downing (£20m, 2011)
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Dwarfing the mistake that was signing Adam by nature of a phenomenally exorbitant transfer fee was fellow 2011 signing Stewart Downing.
A £20 million acquisition from the perennially mid-table Aston Villa raised more than few eyebrows at the time, but it was Downing's impact on Merseyside that underlined his time at the club as an abject failure.
The winger made 65 league appearances for Liverpool and registered just three goals and five assists.
Downing recently claimed, per John Cross of the Daily Mirror, that he "wasn’t happy playing left-back" under Rodgers. No Liverpool fan could be happy with his output for the club.
Abel Xavier (£1m, 2002)
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If Liverpool simply had to sign a player from archrivals Everton, did it have to be Abel Xavier?
The centre-back made the switch across Stanley Park in 2002, but he was consistently frustrating at the heart of the Reds' defence.
Xavier made fourteen league appearances Liverpool under caretaker manager Phil Thompson and Gerard Houllier.
The adventurously coiffured Portuguese lasted just one season as a Liverpool player, with a loan to Galatasary followed by a free transfer to Hannover 96. The defender makes this list due to his risible impact and history with Everton.
El Hadji Diouf (£13.2m, 2002)
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Signed a day after the start of the 2002 World Cup, during which he helped Senegal shock hosts France in the opening game's 1-0 victory, El Hadji Diouf's £13.2 million Liverpool transfer initially showed great promise.
However, the striker's performances once he was in a Reds shirt demand his inclusion on this list.
Three goal in 55 league games for Liverpool underline Diouf's reputation as one of Liverpool's worst No. 9's, and a series of on- and off-field transgressions make the Senegalese one of the club's least likeable figures.
Nowhere near justifying his hefty transfer fee, Diouf makes the list for his reputation as much as his miserable form.
Iago Aspas (£8m, 2013)
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Current Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group are, understandably, advocates of the Moneyball approach to the transfer market, given their success with American baseball outfit Boston Red Sox.
One outstanding example of this is former Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas, who joined the Reds for £8 million during the summer of 2013, after having scored 12 goals in 34 La Liga games in 2012/13.
Allan Jiang of Bleacher Report surmised that, due to Aspas' statistical output during that season, the striker "would have at least 8-12 assists if he was playing alongside" higher quality team-mates.
The Spaniard, however, failed to adapt to the physical style of the Premier League—a quality that cannot be condensed onto a spreadsheet.
Aspas makes the list as proof that a signing cannot be made on statistics alone—and that corner kick.
Joe Cole (Free, 2010)
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The chance to resurrect a flagging career at one of English football's biggest clubs was an opportunity too attractive for Joe Cole to pass up in 2010.
However, the former West Ham United and Chelsea midfielder made just 20 appearances for Liverpool.
He may have been a free transfer, but Cole's signing symbolises the disastrous stewardship of Christian Purslow as managing director at Anfield.
Costing the club a BBC Sport-reported £90,000 per week in wages, Liverpool "agreed to pay Cole £3 million to remove him from their wage bill," prior to his free transfer to West Ham in 2013.
The 33-year-old Cole now warms the bench at Aston Villa.
Nuri Sahin (Loan, 2012)
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Former—and current—Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin's spell at Liverpool was a bizarre one, and the mistakes made during his loan spell on Merseyside were all down to Brendan Rodgers.
Sahin made his name as an exceptional deep-lying playmaker, and his performances in the role earned the Turkey international a move to Real Madrid in 2011, but Rodgers consistently deployed him as a No. 10.
The 47-cap international claimed, per the Liverpool Echo, that "I spoke with [Rodgers] and asked him why I was playing there. It is not my real position. The boss could not answer me..."
Sahin is one of few signings on this list that Liverpool fans could look back on wistfully. If utilised appropriately, he could have become a key player in Liverpool's midfield.
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