Liverpool FC: 7 Players the Reds Sold Too Soon

Rumour has it that the Reds will be in the market for a new player or two in January. Should that be the case, it is probable that one or two current players registered to the Anfield club will have to make way by being shipped off to other clubs.

A Premier League club's door is always revolving with players; the perceived improvements and upgrades brought in and the unwanted or unable-to-be-satisfied allowed to leave without much ceremony.

But sometimes, mistakes are made.

Sometimes, players are allowed to leave before they have fulfilled their potential or before their vast offerings to the club have been used up and worn out.

Here are the top seven players Liverpool let go before they should have.

Brad Friedel

After a lengthy battle with work permit issues, Liverpool finally snared the permanent signing of American goalkeeper Brad Friedel in late 1997. Two months later, when he finally made his Reds debut and went on to establish himself as first choice for the back end of the 1997-1998 season and the beginning of the next, it seemed like Liverpool had found a long-term answer to the position between the sticks.

However, Friedel lost his form, and a series of errors also saw him lose his place in goal, with David James the preferred choice.

When Gerard Houllier arrived at the club, the writing was on the wall, and both 'keepers were shipped off.

Though replacement No. 1 Sander Westerveld enjoyed a good start to his career at Liverpool, goalkeeping arrivals were a common feature of Liverpool's squad list over the next few years, until the arrival of Pepe Reina. Meanwhile, Friedel went on to establish himself as arguably one of the best three goalkeepers in the Premier League at Blackburn Rovers and then Aston Villa.

Now at 40 years of age, Friedel has signed for Tottenham and is still going strong as their No. 1.

Xabi Alonso

Not many players would be able to miss a Champions League final penalty and still be regarded as a hero at that club.

Luckily for Xabi and Liverpool, the Spanish midfielder netted the rebound, and we all know what happened afterwards.

Creative, consistent, hard-working and extremely talented, Xabi Alonso was a major part of Liverpool's team for years. His departure, though perhaps not the entire cause of Liverpool's downturn in fortunes, certainly signaled the beginning.

True, Xabi wanted to leave to go to Real Madrid, but there were certainly times along the way when more could have been done to try and keep him at the club, most notably the season before he left, when Rafa Benitez tried to sell him for around £15 million.

The Reds recouped double that the following summer but failed to adequately replace Alonso's talents in the middle—perhaps something that has still not yet been done.

Peter Beardsley

Beardsley, Barnes and Aldridge.

One of the greatest attacking forces the country has ever seen.

From 1987 to 1991, Beardsley scored 59 times in 175 games for Liverpool and created countless more goals for his teammates.

His dribbling ability made him a fan favourite, and a hat-trick against Manchester United didn't hurt either.

Graeme Souness decided Beardsley, however, would be surplus to requirements when he was appointed Liverpool manager and let the Geordie move to Everton, where he continued to shine and netted 32 goals in 95 games.

A return to Newcastle followed, where Beardsley scored 25 times in his first season back at his hometown club.

Certainly a case of what might have been if he hadn't been let go—for both club and manager, perhaps.

Steve McManaman

The mid to late 1990s held few finer sights for Kopites than Steve McManaman in full flow.

Blessed with pace, exceptional dribbling ability and a superb first touch, "Shaggy" was a firm favourite and one of the few real game changers around.

Frequently man-marked by opposition, McManaman often found himself facing two or three opponents at a time, though it rarely stopped him doing his business.

Not as consistent a goal-scorer as he might have been, McManaman nonetheless scored a fair few for the Reds before moving to Real Madrid as one of the first high-profile Bosman free-transfer signings.

Regardless of it being his decision to leave, Liverpool should never have let the situation develop as it did in the first place, and his contract situation should have been sorted out 18 months earlier at least—around the time Barcelona had a £15 million bid for him initially accepted by the club.

McManaman went on to win two Champions League medals with Real Madrid.

Dean Saunders

In 1991, Dean Saunders became Graeme Souness' most expensive signing as Reds manager, costing £2.9 million from Derby County.

Saunders scored a respectable 23 goals in his single season on Merseyside, plundering goals alongside his international strike partner Ian Rush.

Four goals against Kuusysi Lahti made him the first Red to hit four goals in a game in Europe, while he also scored five over the two legs against Tirol.

However, a year later Souness decided Saunders didn't fit the bill any more and offloaded him for over half a million less to Aston Villa—where the striker immediately set about paying his old manager back by banging in a brace against the Reds to lead his new side to a 4-2 win.

Saunders wasn't the most talented player Liverpool have ever sold; he wasn't even the best striker by a long way.

But at a time when the new Premier League was kicking off, Liverpool failed to find their scoring boots and ended the season in sixth place, with top scorer in the league Ian Rush netting only 14 times. Don Hutchison and Paul Stewart battled it out for the other forward position, and neither of them were successes in front of goals.

Saunders, meanwhile, scored 16 times for Villa in all competitions as they ended up runners-up. Perhaps another year or so at Anfield wouldn't have been a bad thing for the club at the time, until a certain Robbie Fowler was ready to make the grade.

Graeme Souness

Souness as a manager for Liverpool was a disaster.

Souness as a player for Liverpool was one of our all-time finest.

After winning 15 trophies in six years with Liverpool, Souness left for Sampdoria after the 1984 European Cup and left a sizable void in the centre of the Reds' midfield, which after some time was eventually filled by Steve McManaman amongst others.

For a while after, though, Souness was conspicuous by his absence in the Liverpool midfield; no surprise given that he brought so much to the team.

Even though he was the wrong side of 30 when he left Anfield, Souness played until he was 38 and could easily have been a part of the newly shaped side in the years after the Rome final.

Souness went on to win a cup in Italy with his new team before becoming player-manager at Rangers.

Nicolas Anelka

Though he only played for Liverpool on loan for a short spell in 2002, Nicolas Anelka had a profound effect on the Reds' front line and formed a good partnership with Michael Owen and, to a lesser extent, Emile Heskey.

His pace and directness gave Liverpool a new dimension in attack, and it seemed that the option would surely be taken up to buy Anelka on a permanent deal—but it all went pear-shaped when Gerard Houllier decided the better choice would be to sign El-Hadji Diouf instead.

One can only imagine how different Houllier's final seasons might have been had he not made that choice.