Ranking Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool Transfers on Value for Money
Half a week has passed since Liverpool parted company with manager Brendan Rodgers.
In that time, pundits from around the world have been evaluating the Northern Irishman's tenure at Anfield. Today, B/R continues that trend with a look at Rodgers' transfer spending in his three years with Liverpool.
Admittedly, it's unfair to evaluate only Rodgers for Liverpool's transfer dealings. The Anfield club uses a transfer committee to recruit players, as detailed by James Pearce at the Liverpool Echo.
Even so, a manager holds the most prominent role at the head of the club's on-pitch activities, and so—fairly or unfairly—Rodgers will be blamed or praised for how each signing performs.
In ranking Rodgers' signings, I considered the monetary value of each deal and compared that to how each player performed on the pitch for Liverpool. In the end, this is a subjective process, but I tried to be as impartial as possible when evaluating the players on their merits.
How would you rank Rodgers' signings? Let us know in the comments.
Overview of Transfers
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For my rankings, I used the following list compiled by Neil Ashton for the Daily Mail. All monetary figures are Ashton's reporting.
My rankings do not include players who joined on free transfers. This is because it does not make sense to evaluate free transfers on their value for money.
2012-13
Fabio Borini: £10.4m
Joe Allen: £15m
Oussama Assaidi: £3m
Samed Yesil: £1m
Daniel Sturridge: £12m
Philippe Coutinho: £8.5m
2013-14
Luis Alberto: £6.8m
Iago Aspas: £7m
Simon Mignolet: £9m
Mamadou Sakho: £15m
Tiago Ilori: £7m
2014-15
Rickie Lambert: £4.5m
Adam Lallana: £25m
Emre Can: £9.75m
Lazar Markovic: £19.8m
Dejan Lovren: £20m
Divock Origi: £9.8m
Alberto Moreno: £12m
Mario Balotelli: £16m
2015-16
Joe Gomez: £6m
Nathaniel Clyne: £12.5m
Roberto Firmino: £29m
Christian Benteke: £32.5m
Overall total: £291.55m
Too Soon to Tell
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NO RATING: Christian Benteke, Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, Nathaniel Clyne, Divock Origi
Will Christian Benteke justify his £32.5 million price tag? Will Roberto Firmino be a steal or a bust at £29 million?
Many will have already formed an opinion, but it's simply too early to know. The same is true for defenders Joe Gomez (£6 million) and Nathaniel Clyne (£12.5 million), who could prove to be bargains over time.
Finally, I've included striker Divock Origi in this category as well. The Belgian spent 2014-15 on loan with Lille and is only just now starting to see playing time with Liverpool. We need more time to see whether he will justify his £9.8 million fee, which could become a bargain if he starts scoring goals.
Poor Value
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18. Dejan Lovren: £20 million
As poor as he's been for Liverpool, it's almost hard to remember how well Lovren played with Southampton. At £20 million, the defender has not been worth his price tag at all.
17. Mario Balotelli: £16 million
There's no doubting Balotelli's talents, and at the time, a £16 million fee seemed like a somewhat reasonable gamble for a player with a potential upside. But Balotelli failed to make an impact at Anfield, and £16 million now appears way too high. He's currently on loan at Milan.
16. Fabio Borini: £10.4 million
Borini joined Sunderland in August after failing to make the grade at Anfield. At £10.4 million, his was another wasteful transfer in Liverpool's search for striking options. In the end, he scored only two Premier League goals in three seasons.
15. Lazar Markovic: £19.8 million
I almost placed Markovic under the "Too Soon to Tell" category. The Serb is a good player, but Rodgers used him poorly and shipped him out on loan to Fenerbahce after only one year. It will be interesting to see whether he can find a role at Liverpool under a new manager, but at nearly £20 million, this is a bad value for now—even though it's not his fault.
Gambles That Didn't Pan out
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The following four players joined Liverpool for relatively modest sums and subsequently left the club on loan. They were young prospects when they were brought in, and their signings represented calculated gambles on Liverpool's part.
Some of the deals cost more than the others, but all were somewhat cheap. As such, it would be wrong to place them in the same category as Liverpool's worst signings under Rodgers.
That said, they did not make the grade at Anfield and their fees must be considered wasted money.
14. Tiago Ilori: £7m
Ilori was touted as a center-back for the future, but he did not play at all for Liverpool's first team before joining Aston Villa on loan.
13. Luis Alberto: £6.8 million
Alberto made nine appearances for Liverpool before joining Malaga on loan for the 2014-15 season. He's now on loan with Deportivo La Coruna.
12. Oussama Assaidi: £3m
In fairness, £3 million is not a large fee, but Assaidi was loaned out after a year and was simply not good enough. He is now with Al-Ahli Dubai.
11. Samed Yesil: £1m
Yesil was even less expensive at £1 million, but he, too, made no league appearances before going on loan with Luzern. His progress at Liverpool has been hampered by successive injuries to his anterior cruciate ligament.
His Own Category
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10. Adam Lallana: £25 million
I struggled to decide where to place Lallana. The England international clearly has loads of talent, and in fact, he's probably one of Liverpool's best players based solely on quality.
But Lallana has not been consistent enough to justify his £25 million fee. At this point, it's not clear that he ever will.
Neither Fully Good nor Bad Value
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These four transfers weren't terrible deals, but for varying reasons, they still can't be rated as good. If I were calling "hit" or "miss" on these transfers, they would all be "misses."
9. Iago Aspas: £7 million
Aspas played poorly for Liverpool, never justifying his relatively modest £7 million fee. To make matters worse, he's now playing much better for Celta Vigo in La Liga.
That sounds like an awful value, but compared to others on this list, Aspas cost Liverpool comparatively little. For that reason, his transfer rates slightly less poorly.
8. Joe Allen: £15 million
Allen is strong in possession and always compiles good passing statistics. However, he does not create enough offensively, and injuries have hurt his progress at times.
The deciding factor on Allen is his fee. If he had cost less than £15 million, he might have been good value.
7. Rickie Lambert: £4.5 million
Lambert earned a dream move to Anfield in 2014, and the positive part for Liverpool was that it cost just £4.5 million. However, Lambert never forced his way into Rodgers' plans and joined West Bromwich Albion just one year later, having scored just three goals in 36 appearances for the Reds in all competitions.
6. Simon Mignolet: £9 million
Mignolet is a goalkeeper of extremes. The Belgian can pull off an eye-catching save to keep out what seems like a certain goal, but he's also prone to the occasional clanger.
With a bit more consistency, Mignolet would represent good value for money.
Good Value
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5. Alberto Moreno: £12 million
Moreno has been a useful player on the wing for Liverpool, playing full-back and wing-back under Rodgers. The Spaniard moves forward into the attack very well, but his defensive capabilities are sometimes in question.
Still just 23, Moreno has time on his side and could develop into a fine player. At £12 million, he could even be classed as a steal one day.
4. Mamadou Sakho: £15 million
A good center-back holds so much value in football, and Sakho is a very good center-back, despite having to wait for his chance under Rodgers at the beginning of this season.
Sakho is only 25, meaning he could remain with Liverpool for years to come. With that in mind, £15 million does not seem like a bad price at all, especially for an international-quality defender.
3. Daniel Sturridge: £12 million
Sturridge is an excellent striker, as his statistics showed in 2013-14. That season, his fittest with Liverpool, Sturridge netted 24 goals in 33 matches while combining brilliantly with Luis Suarez.
In truth, Sturridge's only real problem is injuries. In 2012-13 and 2014-15, he made just 33 appearances combined. So far this term, he has scored twice in two games.
Sturridge has the potential to become a great-value signing. If he can stay fit and keep scoring, he can move into the elite level of strikers in the club game.
Very Good Value
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2. Emre Can: £9.75 million
Can is a starter for Germany, the current world champions in the international game. That alone should tell you something. In addition, the fact that Liverpool payed less than £10 million for him feels like an absolute steal.
This season, Can's form has dropped somewhat, but his debut campaign at Anfield was very good. Capable of playing in both midfield and defense, Can will offer versatility to Rodgers' successor.
According to TransferMarkt.com, Can's market value now stands at £15 million.
Great Value
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1. Philippe Coutinho: £8.5 million
Coutinho is Liverpool's best player, and the Reds paid a measly £8.5 million for him.
That might have been a gamble at the time, but it looks like a massive bargain now. Following a series of brilliant displays for Liverpool last season, Coutinho earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year.
"He’s a young player who came in, we only paid £8 million for him, and it was purely due to them, Inter Milan, needing funds," Rodgers told the London Evening Standard in April. "It was nothing to do with his ability. I’d seen him play as an 18-year-old in the Champions League with top-class players, so he was a kid that always had the ability."
According to TransferMarkt.com, Coutinho is now worth £30 million. Perhaps not surprisingly, some big clubs are reportedly lining up for his services. According to Spanish publication Diario Sport (h/t the Independent), Barcelona are interested in signing the Brazilian for £22 million.
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