10 most questionable signings made by Liverpool in the last 10 years

It isn't uncommon for a big team to make a signing which would ultimately fail for them, it happens quite frequently. Certain moves for players may not work out well due to a variety of possible reasons. Failure to adapt or live up to expectations are some possibilities. There are many factors which determine whether a player's tenure at a certain club has been a success or not. Every club does make these mistakes every now and then.

However, this has been a very common occurrence for Liverpool over the last ten years. Experimenting times under various managers like Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers have brought some really bad transfers to Anfield. There was a bucketload of poor transfers made across this timeframe. In his time, Rafa Benitez had made some extremely curious moves which failed to work, with the pattern continuing as the Reds underwent an extended transitional period.

It is worth mentioning that ever since Jurgen Klopp has taken over the managerial duties at Merseyside, Liverpool have been pretty spot on in the transfer market. Some excellent signings were made by the German, few of which helped to form the core of the team that marched to the 2018 Champions League Final. None of the players on this list was signed by Klopp, but one surprising name remains at the club.

Let us find out the biggest transfer failures in recent Liverpool history and well, there are some stinkers in here. But first, here are a few (dis)honourable mentions.

Milan Jovanovic
Charlie Adam
Stewart Downing
Fabio Borini
Thiago Ilori

#10 Robbie Keane (2008)

In the summer of 2008, Liverpool had a really strong team who were on the cusp of league and European glory but there still were a few requirements across the pitch. One of them was a goal-poacher, a forward who could play a supporting role to the phenomenal Fernando Torres. The Reds identified that missing piece of the attacking jigsaw as Robbie Keane. The boyhood Liverpool fan realised a childhood dream and arrived at Anfield for £19.3 million. However, it did not pan out like he had hoped.

Keane was made to change his style of play by then Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez and had to adapt pretty quickly. The former Republic Of Ireland international had to play as a left-winger, a position he was not comfortable with. Benitez did not play to Keane's strengths and the striker did have some struggles on the pitch. He did manage to score seven goals in 28 games for the Reds, including a famous volley on the bounce against Arsenal at the Emirates.

Benitez's decision to make Keane play out wide would not pay off, as he returned to his former club Tottenham after just half a season for £12 million. He returned to top form at White Hart Lane and played a part in Spurs' magnificent rise to the top four of the Premier League in 2009-10, ironically at the expense of the Reds.

Fernando Torres' persistent injury issues meant that Liverpool did need another forward capable of filling in for the Spaniard, while also deploying a wider role. Keane was good at one, and it was not his fault. It was just unfortunate for him and everybody involved that his move to Anfield turned out to be sour in the end.

#9 Christian Benteke (2015)

Christian Benteke, the big Belgian bulldozer, was bought by Brendan Rodgers from Aston Villa for a hefty fee of £32.5 million. He had been remarkably consistent at Villa Park for three seasons in a row and wanted to continue his fine form in the Premier League at Liverpool as well. Benteke started off pretty well as he scored the only goal on his home debut against Bournemouth and he looked like the real deal, a consistent striker who would always come up big.

He scored an unreal overhead kick at Old Trafford, as he continued to make progress under the ex-Reds boss. However, Rodgers got sacked following a 1-1 draw against Everton and in came Jurgen Klopp. Benteke still got many opportunities under the German and proved to be hot and cold. Some weeks he would do well and score, while other weeks he would be missing easy opportunities. This inconsistency was perfectly illustrated over Liverpool's two Christmas games. Benteke scored the only goal in both games, 1-0 wins against Leicester City and Sunderland, but he missed a host of sitters, including an open goal against the eventual league winners.

As 2016 rolled around, Daniel Sturridge returned to full fitness and the Belgian became out of favour pretty quickly. He also fell behind fellow Belgian, the impressive Divock Origi, in the pecking order. He ended the season with two headed goals in the month of May, but his Anfield career seemed over. Benteke did do some wonderful things, but he should have done much more. He looked a bit lazy and disconnected at times, as Liverpool managed to recover £32 million for him when he went to Crystal Palace. Despite playing a season for the Reds, Christian Benteke has scored more goals at Anfield as an opposition player than as a Liverpool player. A truly bizarre stat for a striker.

#8 Christian Poulsen (2010)

The Danish defensive midfielder was one of the few terrible pieces of business done during that unfortunate summer of 2010. Roy Hodgson came into the club and changed the face of it, almost crippling it for the long-term. He signed Christian Poulsen from Juventus for £4.5 million, as a direct replacement for the Barcelona-bound Javier Mascherano. He was immediately put under pressure with enormous shoes to fill. His start did not exactly reek of confidence from him, as he immediately struggled in a mediocre team.

Poulsen was a prominent figure during the first half of the 2010-11 season, which was unbelievably poor. Liverpool were in a terrible mess and even spent a few weeks in the relegation zone, in October. The club was going through extreme turmoil on and off the field, as the ownership situation turned ugly. Luckily, the club was bought by the Fenway Sports Group and they undid the prior mistake of Hodgson's appointment. Just a little over six months at the helm, Roy Hodgson was sacked as the manager of Liverpool.

As Hodgson left, so did Poulsen's playing time. Kenny Dalglish came in as caretaker manager and turned the fortunes of the Reds for the time being. However, the Dane became completely out of favour at the club under the King. He was left on the bench over the course of those few months. Poulsen left Liverpool for French club Evian at the start of the 2011-12 season after a miserable spell at Anfield. The first half of the season he was so poor and the second half of the season he did not play because of that. Poulsen, along with a few others on this list, remains a name that will always be associated with the darkest period in Liverpool's recent history.

#7 Iago Aspas (2013)

This is a very weird one, considering how well the Spaniard has done in recent times. He even scored a goal at the freshly concluded World Cup in Russia. However, he did spend a year at Liverpool and it is fair to say that he was terrible. Iago Aspas was brought to Anfield by Brendan Rodgers for £7.5 million from Celta Vigo. He looked like a complete forward who was creative and versatile, with a good eye for goal. Hopes were high for Aspas to hit the ground running at Anfield as part of a strikeforce that included the ice-cool Daniel Sturridge and the deadly Luis Suarez.

Suarez continued serving his suspension he received the previous season for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic as the 2013-14 campaign began. This gave Aspas a good chunk of games to play consecutively which would eventually help him settle. However, he did none of that during the opening month of the season. He was toothless throughout the opening stretch and had zero claims to retain his spot in the side once Suarez returned from his suspension.

The Spanish forward did get one goal for the Reds, coming in a 2-0 home win against Oldham Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup. The rest of his season was utterly miserable, with his lowest moment coming at the most crucial point in the season. In the last minute of injury time with Liverpool losing a pivotal match to Chelsea, Aspas decided to play a quick short corner. The ball went straight to Willian, who started a counter-attack which resulted in Chelsea doubling their lead and ruining Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League. This would be Aspas' living memory at Liverpool as he left the club on loan that summer, before returning to Celta in 2015.

#6 Andy Carroll (2011)

Andy Carroll was part of one of the biggest blockbuster transfers in English football when he made a shocking deadline day move to Liverpool for a then-British record of £35 million. Fernando Torres had just left the Reds for Chelsea and Kenny Dalglish needed to act fast for replacements. He found them in Luis Suarez and the former Newcastle United striker. A fact that is crazy now is that Carroll was the focus of the two-star signings made by the Reds. He was fresh and young at 22 years old, coming off an excellent half-season for the Magpies. Carroll was tipped to be the spearhead of Liverpool's attack for years to come.

Unfortunately, it never really happened for him. He was riddled with injuries just after he signed and scored two goals for Liverpool during the remainder of the 2010-11 season, a fantastic brace against Manchester City. People were extremely optimistic for Carroll going into 2011-12 but he just could not stay on top of his game. He would grab the occasional goal, but he missed a whole host of glorious chances. The Englishman was slightly like Benteke in that regard but he did have the full backing from Kenny Dalglish for most of the season.

Carroll did come up big for Liverpool, as he scored a late winner against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final. He also had a very impressive cameo for the Reds in the FA Cup final, scoring their only goal in a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea. At least he ended a really difficult season on a somewhat positive note.

Liverpool finished eighth that season and Kenny Dalglish was replaced by Brendan Rodgers. That spelled the end of Andy Carroll's Anfield career as Rodgers was set on playing a certain brand of attacking football. Carroll did not fit the system and was loaned to West Ham United for the 2012-13 season, before moving there permanently. He had an incredibly troubled time trying to live up to high expectations and just could not make it.

#5 Joe Cole (2010)

After a glowing and largely successful spell at Chelsea, Joe Cole moved to Liverpool on a free transfer in what seemed to be the biggest steal of the summer. The Reds just suffered a major setback as they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in seven years. Out went Rafa Benitez, in came Roy Hodgson and we saw a lot of poor transfer deals being made, as pointed out already on this list. However, Cole was expected to stand out at Anfield and be their creative force in a new era for the club.

The former West Ham and Chelsea man instantly made headlines from the get-go, but for the wrong reasons. He received a straight red card for a late challenge on Laurent Koscielny within 45 minutes of his league debut for Liverpool against Arsenal. Cole followed that up by missing a penalty in a Europa League qualifier. He did not settle in well after that and lacked the passion it took to put on the famous red shirt. The entire 2010-11 season was an extremely difficult one for the former England international before he left Liverpool on loan to Lille.

Cole returned the following season but left in January 2013 to re-join West Ham, a place where he felt at home. The main reason why Joe Cole's time at Anfield was labeled as heavily disappointing was that he possessed an exceptional level of talent. Cole was a key part of a very successful period in Chelsea's history but he could not transform any of those good abilities to his game at Anfield. This was a huge waste of a transfer, despite being free. When Cole had signed, Steven Gerrard made a bold prediction that he would win the Player of the Year award and even compared him to Leo Messi. He could not have been more wrong.

#4 Alberto Aquilani (2009)

In the summer of 2009, Liverpool dished out £17 million to sign Alberto Aquilani from AS Roma. He was said to be an attacking replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso. The midfielder was heaped on with massive praise from the likes of Francesco Totti and John Arne Riise. However, he arrived at Anfield with an ankle injury which turned out to be much more serious than what the Reds were led to believe. He did not make his full debut until December.

He did show some talent during his limited appearances for Liverpool, including a perfectly placed shot against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final. Unfortunately, Aquilani lacked the physical game of English football and the Reds were desperate to cash in on the Italian. Loan spells at Juventus and AC Milan were both not good enough to warrant a permanent transfer, so Liverpool ended up biting the bullet and accepting a huge loss on their Italian investment as he was sold to Fiorentina.

Aquilani still remains a curious case for Reds fans. Circumstances may have been a bit too harsh on him. Would he have succeeded at Anfield if he hadn't been injured for so long? It's hard to really answer that question. The fact is that Liverpool did make a huge mistake by getting Aquilani as Alonso's replacement. It was a risk-filled move, a rare one during those troubled times as well and it did not pay off one single bit.

#3 Paul Konchesky (2010)

This was an utter and complete disaster of a transfer in every way possible. Another one of Roy's classics, brought in by the current Crystal Palace manager. Paul Konchesky had played under Hodgson at Fulham and joined him at Anfield for a baffling fee of around £5 million. He came in and replaced promising left-back Emiliano Insua, who was loaned and eventually sold. This was a transfer that made no sense whatsoever, even Hodgson himself could not justify it.

Konchesky is the face of the absolutely horrendous time on the pitch that Liverpool fans had to suffer through. He is the worst of a very bad bunch and had no right to be playing as a home player at Anfield. He kept on putting in worse and worse performances. He was so bad that Liverpool fans started cheering when the left-back was substituted in a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves. Yes, Liverpool lost to Wolves at Anfield in the Premier League. That's how bad it got.

When Kenny Dalglish returned to Liverpool, much like Poulsen, Cole and even other bad signing Milan Jovanovic, Konchesky hardly got a look in as things became better. It was no surprise that Liverpool improved under the King and without most of their poor summer signings of 2010. But perhaps the lasting memory of Konchesky's time at Liverpool is when his mother Carol Konchesky vented her anger on Liverpool fans who were rightfully critical of left-backs performances at Anfield by posting a rant on Facebook. Some legacy, indeed.

#2 Mario Balotelli (2014)

2013-14 was an excellent season for Liverpool. They were inches away from winning the Premier League title and Luis Suarez had won the Golden Boot and the PFA Player of the Year award. However, the aftermath of that season would be unfortunate for the Reds. Suarez ended up leaving for Barcelona as Liverpool tried to salvage some new talent for their squad. Brendan Rodgers made a bunch of signings, both hit and miss. The likes of Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Emre Can and Divock Origi made their way to Merseyside. But they still needed a striking replacement for the outgoing Uruguayan. Liverpool seemingly poached Loic Remy from QPR but he failed the medical, so Rodgers decided to take a major risk for his marquee summer striker signing.

Mario Balotelli joined Liverpool from AC Milan for £16 million. Fans were understandably excited as Balotelli had shown fantastic potential at all of his previous clubs. Everybody thought that he would continue to flourish under the great man-manager Rodgers. However, it all blew up. We saw all the wrong qualities of the Italian striker during his time at Anfield. He just could not score despite all the golden opportunities he was getting. This was a time where Liverpool's strikers were famously not up to the mark, with the likes of Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini and a hardly fit Daniel Sturridge.

Balotelli would end up scoring four goals for Liverpool, one in each competition. It is stunning to see just how poor he really was at Anfield, possibly the Reds' worst striker in the past fifteen years. He would return to the San Siro on loan and was told, in 2016, that he did not have a future at Liverpool by Jurgen Klopp. Balotelli went to Ligue 1 club Nice on transfer deadline day. This transfer was an unnecessary risk taken by the current Celtic boss as an answer to the ever-consistent Luis Suarez. Suarez scored 31 goals in his last season, while Balotelli got 4. Liverpool actually paid £4 million for one Mario Balotelli goal, really unbelievable.

#1 Lazar Markovic (2014)

Another one of Rodgers' signings in the wake of Luis Suarez's departure, Lazar Markovic looked like an extremely talented bloke who had the skillset to become a very successful Liverpool winger in the future. He was brought in from Benfica for £20 million. Fans were immediately excited for this new kid to show what he has, based on the hefty price tag alone. He could not do anything. Sure, he showed flashes of brilliance here and there but he was poor for the most part in 2014-15. He failed to impress throughout the season and he was shipped off on loan for the next few seasons.

He went to Fenerbahce, Sporting Lisbon and Hull City, but he would not find much success at any of those clubs. Markovic would return to Melwood after each of those loan spells, hoping to do something of note to impress Jurgen Klopp. But it never happened. The Serbian winger spent the entirety of the 2017-18 as a member of the Reds squad, without stepping onto the pitch for one moment. This just shows how far the once promising wide-man has fallen since his big move to England.

Shockingly, he remains at Liverpool as the club have been trying to recover some amount of the bomb the shelled on Markovic. There are no takers for him because of that and it is getting increasingly frustrating for both him and the club. This is similar to the Aquilani case, only more extreme. He is still a Liverpool player, despite his last start for Liverpool coming at wing-back in the FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa where he was replaced at half-time. That pretty much sums up his Reds career. Even though he remains at Anfield, Lazar Markovic's Liverpool career is dead and buried.

Edited by Rajdeep Puri