Quantcast
G.O.A.T

LFC’s Top 5 ‘Free’ Transfers During The Premier League Era

|
Image for LFC’s Top 5 ‘Free’ Transfers During The Premier League Era

IF truth be told, Liverpool have made a lot more mistakes with players signing on a free rather than good decisions in the past. We have been linked with the likes of Junior Hoilett, Mohamed Diame and quite a few others over the last couple of months that people are rightly sceptical about since our bad luck with signing free agents. Yet there has been a select few that have gone on to shine for the club since the Premier League’s inception in 1992.

Here’s a list of my top five free transfers made by Liverpool during the last two decades:

Craig Bellamy (2011-present) – Signing Craig from Manchester City on a free was an absolute steal and a great decision by Kenny Dalglish. It is his second time signing for the club after a year’s spell in 2006/07. Craig played his part in the clubs progression to both the FA Cup final and Carling Cup final last season by providing some crucial goals and assists. He scored the opening goal against Brighton in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup and then went on to provide both assists against Chelsea in the 2-0 quarter-final win. In the FA Cup, he delivered an excellent cross for Carroll to head home in the semi-final against Everton. During last season, Bellamy had a return of 9 goals in 33 games in all competitions, a total which demonstrates why his signing was such an astute one by Kenny.

Bolo Zenden (2005-2007) – Bolo joined Liverpool from Middlesbrough in 2005 and had a bad start to his LFC career after a cruciate ligament injury a few months after signing for the club. He joined the club when he was 28-years old and coming towards the end of his prime, yet he had a steady influence on the Liverpool midfield especially after Didi Hamann’s departure when Bolo became a more central figure rather than his usual left midfield position. Bolo vitally scored Liverpool’s first penalty in the Champions League semi-final triumph against Chelsea in May 2007. He then started in the Champions League final against Milan, a game in which we unluckily lost out.

Fabio Aurelio (2006-2012) – You could say Fabio didn’t have the chance to show the Liverpool fans his quality as regularly as he and we would have liked to. There’s no doubting that he was an excellent left-back for the club who just didn’t have enough of a break from repetitive injuries. The fact that he only played 86 Premier League games in his six seasons with the club conveys this, an average of just 14 games per season. But we will always remember his stunning free-kicks against Chelsea in the 4-4 Champions League match, with the other coming in 2008/09 Premier League challenge when we hammered Man United 4-1 in their own back yard.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
Maxi Rodriguez (2010-present) – Maxi came to Liverpool a seasoned veteran with Argentina and Atletico Madrid. Maxi took a little longer than he’d have hoped to acclimatise to the Premier League, yet in the 2010/11 season he performed excellently under the new management of Dalglish on the left of midfield. He bagged 10 goals in the league in 28 games; six of these goals came from two hat-tricks against Birmingham and Fulham. During last season he was used sparingly by Dalglish, something many people believe was incorrect as every time he stepped onto the pitch he seemed to have an impact on the team. He scored the important first goal against Chelsea in the quarter-final of the Carling Cup on the road to us winning the trophy.

Gary McAllister (2000-2002) – Last but not least is probably the best free transfer that Liverpool has made in the Premier League’s history. The influential Scot was 35 years old when he was signed for Liverpool by former manager Gerard Houllier, who later called McAllister his ‘most inspirational signing’. He was only at the club for two years, but sandwiched between his stay in 2001 was the season we won five trophies; and it’s safe to say Gary Mac had a huge role play to in all of them. His best moments? Well, you only have to take a look at the lyrics to that classic song:

‘Oh we loved your sweet right foot, signed you for free, we won all three, your Dortmund pen, your Bradford goal, your Barca pen, your Spurs peno, your Coventry goal, your Derby goal, your baldy head, you’re Gary Mac. Ohhh, Gary Macca, Gary, Gary Macca, Gary Macca, Gary, Gary Mac….’ repeat until hoarse.

He’ll always be remembered fondly for these moments and for playing a part in Liverpool’s most successful Premier League season. The fact that he was selected as number 32 in the ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’ after such a short amount of time spent at the club proves just how much of an impact he had on the fans.

Comments appreciated!

You can find me on Twitter here: @m1cklfc
[ad_pod id=’DFP-MPU’ align=’right’]
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com

Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook

Share this article

6 comments

  • Jimmy Areabi (Editor) says:

    Jari Litmanen deserves a mention. What a player, criminally under-used by Houllier.

  • Sean Mullan says:

    Markus Babbel was excellent in 2000-01, was so unfortunate he suffered such a terrible illness shortly afterwards

  • Michael Moran says:

    I was considering Litmanen, Jimmy. Him along with the return of God were potential options, apart from that though it was pretty slim pickings!

  • Michael Moran says:

    Haha! Him, Degen, Pellegrino and Pegguy Arphexad just missed out!

  • pay per head says:

    oh i did not know about this, but I am so happy to have found it out, thank you very much buddy, greetings!!

Comments are closed.