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Liverpool has been enjoying something of a renaissance under German manager Jurgen Klopp and the team now looks more prepared than ever to maintain a sustained challenge for the biggest titles in club football: the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
For the last 28 years, Reds have had to look on in envy as North-West rivals Manchester United and Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, as well as the one-off duo of Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City, have all lifted the Premier League trophy.
A big reason for this drought has been down to a lot of incredibly bad signings made by Liverpool managers over the years.
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This has been in spite of a considerable outlay of £1.072 billion on players since the Premier League began in August 1992 and has been a stick with which rival fans have used to beat Liverpool fans with over the years.
Here is a look at five worst players that the Kop have been unfortunate to witness playing at the hallowed grounds of Anfield:
#5 Alberto Aquilani (2009-2012)
Even the greatest managers have made occasionally crazy decisions and Rafa Benitez’s inexplicable decision to rid the club of the genius of Xabi Alonso in order to get in the consummate worker bee that was Gareth Barry is one of these acts of craziness.
Like the best-laid plans though, Rafa’s gamble fell apart as Alonso did move on to Real Madrid but the club failed to get Barry from Aston Villa.
The player that was eventually brought in a year later was a disaster and one of the biggest stains on Benitez’s time at the club.
The Italian midfielder Aquilani was brought in from AS Roma for £20m in 2009 and went on to have a completely forgettable time at Liverpool.
He was constantly injured during his time in England and was only able to make 18 Premier League appearances, none of which were particularly memorable.
Ponderous in possession, slow and looking bereft of ideas, his Liverpool displays were a far cry from the dynamic maestro who had linked up brilliantly with Francesco Totti during his time at the Giallorossi.
#4 El-Hadj Diouf (2002-2005)
Often described as the worst striker in the long and often illustrious history of Liverpool, the club’s fans are almost always unanimous in their disgust with the Senegalese striker and his time at Anfield.
It wasn’t just the fact that he was only able to score just three goals during his time at the club (a miserable number for even a midfielder) it was that he had attitude problems and constantly fell out with both teammates and the coaching staff.
The Senegalese forward was signed by then manager Gérard Houllier from French side RC Lens for £10m just before the World Cup in Korea/Japan (2002).
His starring role in helping his national team to get to the quarterfinals created much excitement among the club’s fans.
The list of his indiscretions at the club read like a rap sheet for an ex-convict: from the spitting incident in a UEFA Cup game against Celtic at Parkhead in 2003 to the wrenching of the ball from Neil Mellor to take a penalty.
Safe to say, the only XI the Senegalese forward will ever qualify for in the history of Liverpool is the one for the worst players to wear the red jersey.
#3 Stewart Downing (2011-2013)
The English winger was expected to be one of the catalysts of the Reds’ revival under cult hero Kenny Daglish but instead turned out to be symptomatic of the club’s headless-chicken transfer policy under King Kenny.
Brought in for £20m in 2011 from Aston Villa, Downing was supposed to the speedy, English trickster who would be whipping in crosses from the left for Fernando Torres (and later Andy Carroll) to profit from.
A decent player in his own right, the English winger never even came close to delivering anything like what was expected of him.
His signing and performances were perhaps the biggest pointers to Daglish’s inability to adapt to the modern game and his tactics which did the club no favours.
At the time he was signed, the general understanding was that he was signed to get the best out of Carroll who had arrived seven months earlier.
On paper it seemed a good idea; the left-footed winger delivering in-swinging crosses into the box for the 6”5’ Carroll to knock into the net or nod down for midfield runners/supporting strikers like Luis Suárez, Dirk Kuyt, captain Steven Gerrard and others.
Downing’s final tally of seven assists and three goals in 65 Premier League games for the Reds over the two seasons he spent at the club were indicative of just how mediocre he was.
#2 Mario Balotelli (2014-2015)
This was the one deal that typified the mind-blowing stupidity that was Liverpool’s transfer business before the arrival of Klopp.
The signing of the Italian maverick from AC Milan came after then manager Brendan Rodgers had spent the summer scouring the globe for a capable replacement for star striker Suárez who had left to join FC Barcelona.
After a lengthy search that included inquiries for the likes of Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, Marco Reus and Edinson Cavani, the club eventually looked to settle for the Italian who had enjoyed a bit of a renaissance at Milan after three frustrating seasons at Manchester City.
In 28 matches across all competitions for the Reds, Super Mario hit a paltry four goals and the sight of him sulking and looking disinterested was one that Liverpool fans came to dread.
He failed to get on with teammates and the managers: Rodgers and Klopp.
The most memorable occurrence of his time at Anfield was perhaps the infamous half-time shirt swap with Real Madrid’s Pepe during a UEFA Champions League encounter in which the Reds were 3-0 down in the first half.
#1 Andy Carroll (2011-2013)
The undisputed king of Liverpool’s flops in the Premier League era, the best that can be said about the hulking Englishman is that the club who signed him bear as much fault for the crap show he put up as much as the player himself.
In the aftermath of Torres’ then-British record transfer to Chelsea for £50m, the giant Englishman was signed on the same day for a transfer fee which was a record for a British player at that time: £35m.
The signing was done despite the fact that the native of Tyneside was still very much a raw talent in the Premier League and though he had done well to score 11 goals for Newcastle United in the first half of the season, there was still so much that was unknown about his mentality.
His aerial prowess and occasionally powerful shooting could do nothing to disguise his lack of skill and a first touch that was so bad; it was the stuff of comedy.
Injuries and his inability to settle in such a storied club with the huge media attention that came with it meant he stood little chance of ever becoming an Anfield hero and after a miserable tally of 11 goals in 58 games spread across two seasons meant few tears were shed when he joined West Ham initially on loan and then for £15m in 2013.
