Valentine's Special: 5 Overseas Signings Who Stole Liverpool Fans' Hearts
Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate the ones we love (mainly by giving them tacky presents and a cheap card).
However, not all relationships can last forever. In football, while followers remain loyal to their club throughout the good times and the bad, players tend to come and go.
While you try not to get too attached along the way, it's impossible not to hold a torch for certain individuals.
Right now, Liverpool fans have fallen head over heels for Sadio Mane. Signed from Southampton, the Senegal international caught the eye in the first half of the season.
But when Mane was away to represent his country at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, those back on Merseyside longed for his return.
There was a feeling of relief on Saturday as the forward marked his first start for Liverpool in 2017 by scoring both goals in the 2-0 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur.
Mane is the latest flame for Liverpool fans, but what about those who are no longer around?
To mark Saint Valentine's special day, Bleacher Report has picked out five overseas recruits who captured the hearts of the Anfield faithful before moving on.
Please note: Only signings made in the Premier League were considered for this list.
Honourable Mentions
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Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam A.H.H." includes the oft-quoted lines: "'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all."
Liverpool have loved plenty of players from overseas during the Premier League years, that's for sure.
Sami Hyypia spent a decade at Anfield, making 464 appearances and winning the treble (FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup) in the 2000/01 season. The Finn also won the Champions League and, such was his strong feeling towards the club, he broke down in tears at the end of his final appearance in red in May 2009.
John Arne Riise could easily have cracked the top five, too. Famed for his thunderous shot, the Norwegian scored 31 goals in 348 games for Liverpool.
Riise often played in front of goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who displaced Jerzy Dudek—one of the heroes from the miracle of Istanbul in 2005—between the sticks.
Dietmar Hamann and Javier Mascherano were outstanding recruits as well, although both had already experienced English football (albeit briefly in the latter's case) with Newcastle United and West Ham United, respectively.
There are many others who made a mark: Daniel Agger, Alvaro Arbeloa, Markus Babbel, Milan Baros, Patrik Berger and Mohamed Sissoko.
And what about some of the more fleeting romances in recent years?
Titi Camara became a cult figure in his one full season with Liverpool, while Maxi Rodriguez worked under three managers—and gained one of the catchiest chants going—during his spell in England.
Just to add, current players were not included. While Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Mane are revered, their Liverpool stories are far from over.
Xabi Alonso
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Xabi Alonso's name should bring back bittersweet memories for Liverpool fans.
The midfielder, who arrived from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2004 for a fee of £13.6 million, quickly won supporters' hearts with his performances. However, his exit is tinged with sadness, along with questions of what might have been.
Comedian Jasper Carrott once joked: "I hear Glenn Hoddle has found God, that must have been a hell of a pass." The same applies to Alonso, who was so elegant on the ball yet also willing to do the dirty work.
Alonso played a key part in Liverpool's famous Champions League triumph over AC Milan in 2005, scoring the second goal during the astonishing second-half comeback from 3-0 down.
Steven Gerrard wrote in his autobiography (h/t Daily Mail) how he loved having the Spaniard as a team-mate: "He was, by some distance, the best central midfielder I ever played alongside."
As well as talking about their football bromance, Gerrard also claimed the Reds made a "disastrous decision" in allowing Alonso to leave in 2009.
Manager Rafael Benitez appeared to briefly lose his touch in the summer of 2008, as he inexplicably believed Liverpool needed to buy Aston Villa's Gareth Barry to pull the strings instead, per the Guardian.
Alonso stuck around for one more season, helping the Reds push Manchester United hard for the league title. However, after 210 games and 19 goals (two of them from inside his own half), he eventually joined Real Madrid.
The English club made a healthy profit on the player, but the sale left a sizeable void.
Like a broken-hearted lover, supporters were left to reminisce about that special someone they'd let slip through their fingers. Forget about a reunion, too, Alonso has confirmed he will retire this summer.
Luis Garcia
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Luis Garcia will forever be linked with two things when it comes to Liverpool; drinking sangria and scoring a monumental goal against Chelsea.
Part of the "Spanish Armada" (the "Rafalution") that arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2004, manager Benitez knew about Garcia from his time in charge of CD Tenerife.
A forward who found a home on the wing, he wrote his name into Anfield folklore with some huge contributions in the club's run to Champions League glory in the 2004/05 season.
From an aesthetic point of view, his wonder striker in the quarter-final tie against Juventus was surely the pick of his goals during his time in England.
However, in terms of importance, nothing matches his second-leg strike in a closely fought semi-final with domestic rivals Chelsea.
Reacting quickly after visiting goalkeeper Petr Cech had flattened Milan Baros, Garcia's scuffed left-footed effort from close range deflected off the diving John Terry and, without a shadow of doubt, crossed the line before Claude Makelele hacked the ball away.
Dubbed a "ghost goal" by then-Blues boss Jose Mourinho, the controversial strike sent Liverpool through to face AC Milan (and we all know what happened on that night in Istanbul).
Garcia scored 30 times in 121 appearances for the Reds before departing for Atletico Madrid in 2007.
Despite playing for a host of clubs during his career, Liverpool still holds a special place in his heart. He told the club's official website: "The three years I spent here and what happened after that with all the people supporting me from far away made me love the club."
Dirk Kuyt
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It's not often being sworn at leads to a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, but that's exactly what happened to Dirk Kuyt when he turned out against Manchester United in 2016.
While he was playing for Feyenoord in a Europa League fixture at Old Trafford, the home fans refused to allow the forward to forget his deep-rooted connection to one of their rivals.
"60,000 supporters shouted against me, and said you scouse b-----d and normally when the rivals shout at you it's not the best thing that can happen to you," Kuyt said in a personal video published on social media (h/t Jake Polden of the Mirror).
"But actually it made me proud, because I felt proud to be named a scouser, an adopted scouser, because for me scousers are good people. They're hardworking people, committed people, people who never give up."
That description also sums up Kuyt's playing style. While other team-mates grabbed more attention, he captured the hearts of the fans with his willingness to work.
Signed as a striker from Feyenoord in 2006, he was all about energy and effort with and without the ball, often sacrificing himself for the team's cause by playing out wide.
While never prolific in front of goal during his time at Anfield (he scored 71 times in a six-year stay), the Dutchman had a happy knack of popping up with big goals.
Reds will forever love him for the close-range hat-trick against Manchester United in March 2011, and he knocked the same opponents out of the FA Cup with a late winner the following season.
Oh, and there was also the winning penalty in the semi-final shootout against Chelsea in 2007. It was his successful spot-kick that sent Liverpool through to the Champions League final.
Fernando Torres
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Fernando Torres' love story with Liverpool ended in acrimonious fashion.
His departure to Chelsea on a dramatic transfer deadline day in January 2011 soured the memories of his highly successful three-and-a-half year stint at Anfield.
Having aired his concerns over the club's plans to focus on long-term development, he felt the Reds hung him out to dry in the way the deal was portrayed in public.
"It was presented as if I was a traitor," he told Simon Hughes (h/t Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo) for the book, Ring of Fire: Liverpool FC Into The 21st Century—The Players' Stories.
Having paid £32.3 million to sign the striker from Atletico Madrid in July 2007, the Reds made a profit when accepting a reported £50 million offer. The deal made good business sense, but money didn't matter to fans.
Torres—who scored 81 goals for Liverpool in 142 games—had turned his back on a club that had embraced him. And, of all places, he ended up going to Chelsea.
In a further twist to the tale, the Spaniard made his Blues debut against his old club—and those who had worshipped him let the player know exactly how they felt during Liverpool's 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
Still, time heals all wounds.
Just over four years on from his painful exit, he returned to play in a charity match. Coming on as a second-half substitute, Liverpool's supporters showed no hard feelings with a rendition of Torres' famous chant.
"Everybody knows Liverpool fans are different class. Today is a day to remember for me. I am lucky to be able to be here and I just want to thank everybody for their welcome," Torres told the club's website.
Luis Suarez
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After selling Torres for a princely sum, Liverpool reacted quickly by bringing in not one but two strikers.
While Andy Carroll's time on Merseyside was largely forgettable, fellow January signing Luis Suarez left a lasting mark during his time in English football (and not just on Branislav Ivanovic's arm either).
He wasted little time in opening his account, scoring on his debut against Stoke City after coming on as a substitute, and finished with 82 goals in 133 appearances.
There were controversial moments during his stay. He was suspended for eight games for racially abusing Patrice Evra in October 2011, then 10 more after biting Chelsea's Ivanovic 18 months later.
Yet he won the hearts of both Liverpool fans and players alike with his non-stop work rate and individual moments of brilliance. Gerrard praised the forward in his autobiography (h/t the Daily Mail):
"All the people who revile Suarez, never having met him, might be surprised if they had the chance to benefit from his unselfish willingness to sacrifice himself for his team. He will run himself into the ground. He scores goals. He creates goals. He’s hard and horrible to play against. He’s right up for it. You’ve got a chance of beating anyone in the world with Luis Suarez in your team.
"
Suarez finished the 2013/14 season as the Premier League's top scorer, managing 31 goals in 33 games. He picked up the Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Player of the Year awards, too.
By the start of the next campaign, however, he was a Barcelona player.
The 30-year-old now thrives as part of the Spanish club's MSN forward line, alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar. It is hard to begrudge anyone wanting to play for the Blaugrana, but each and every goal Suarez scores for his current club offers Liverpool supporters a painful reminder of what they once had.
The chant from Liverpool fans was spot on; when it comes to Suarez, you just can't get enough.
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