In the summer or the winter, transfer deadline day is the day fans and the media look forward to arguably above all else in football, whilst for managers and clubs it’s the opposite end of the scale – they hate it.
However, what’s better than seeing Sky Sports interview Harry Redknapp at the window of his Range Rover as he is asked about various players like Kaka? Well, seeing Liverpool make a signing would be good. However, they have had a few corkers in the past arrive at the club in the final day of trade, including these five:
1. Albert Riera
Having been part of the setup at Espanyol, Riera had been attracting interest from local rivals Everton, but decided on 31st August 2008 to come to Anfield for £8m. Liverpool had ensured that a difficult transfer window, with the chasing of Gareth Barry and the ensuring arguments, came to a successful end as Riera enjoyed a very good first season, scoring spectacular goals such as the one against Aston Villa in the 5-0 win in March 2009.
However, he never truly cemented a first team place and once he claimed that Liverpool were a ‘sinking ship’ under Rafael Benitez, he was quickly sold to Olympiakos in July 2010.
2. Craig Bellamy
Arriving for his second stint at Liverpool after enjoying a year under Rafa in 2006-07, the Welshman made his return in a free transfer from Manchester City, albeit inheriting his excessive wages. Bellamy was delighted to play under his idol Kenny Dalglish and chipped in with 9 goals as he helped Liverpool’s bid for a Carling and FA Cup double, including an assist for Andy Carroll’s winner over Everton in the FA Cup semi-finals.
However, once Brendan Rodgers became manager, Bellamy in his 30s and with a high wage was part of the group of players sold to cut down wages, with Maxi Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt being other examples of this. Bellamy joined his boyhood club Cardiff City on a free transfer.
3. Alvaro Arbeloa
A January deadline deal this, with Arbeloa joining the Reds for £2.6m from Deportivo La Coruna in January 2006 and going on to stay at the club for three and a half years, growing in stature every season, and forced his way into the Spanish team (this was during the time when Liverpool could have fielded their own Spanish team and there were many who did play for the national team, normally with just Real Madrid and Barcelona players for company).
However, once it was clear in the summer of 2009 that Glen Johnson was on his way from Portsmouth, Arbeloa was also set to leave, especially with only one year left on his contract. Unfortunately, that meant he left for just £3.5m to Real Madrid, which was peanuts compared to the value he had made for himself during his time at Anfield. At least £5m was lost, as was a very dependable defender.
4. Javier Mascherano
One of the most fascinating and controversial deals in Liverpool’s recent history. Having signed for West Ham in the August 2006 deadline, he then moved to Liverpool initially on loan on the January 2007 deadline, but not without many complications with Fifa and the Premier League about his registration as he had already played for two clubs that season.
However, that was sorted and Mascherano became a massive hit at Anfield, establishing a partnership in midfield with Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard, becoming one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. He was signed permanently from his third party ownership (Media Sports Investments) in early 2008 for £18m and enjoyed further success.
Benitez’s departure and Roy Hodgson’s appointment convinced Mascherano to go elsewhere and he signed for Barcelona for £18.25m in the summer of 2010. However, his dedication of Barcelona’s 2011 Champions League triumph over Manchester United to Liverpool was greatly appreciated!
5. Luis Suarez
It had to be him. The man who is breaking records at will and quickly entering the discussions of legendary status at Anfield arrived this time three years ago, almost unnoticed. Because of the Andy Carroll/Fernando Torres fiasco, Suarez’s arrival was celebrated, but then almost ignored as people realized the dream partnership of the Uruguayan and Torres would be scarpered if the Spaniard departed for Chelsea.
However, that £23m given to Ajax is becoming more of a bargain every single day, with Suarez scoring 4, 17, 30 and 23 goals in his three years at the club, with 74 goals in 117 appearances in total.
Without doubt he is currently in the top ten players in world football, the top three out and out strikers and only Messi and Ronaldo have definitive arguments to be above Suarez. He arguably heads that group of ‘world class’ players like Falcao, Ribery, Lewandowski etc. that sit behind the duo in Spain.
Hopefully he will remain at Liverpool for years to come, and is the most successful deadline day deal in Liverpool’s history.
If lfc misses out on Yevyen then Ayre must go and fsg are not serious,shows they are bunch of boasters and empty vaccum who rely on rejects to push our clubs.Hearing the name Ayre makes me sick.
This story is so dead in the water what’s the point….,Get with the program
Doesn’t matter if we get kono or not . Still want fsg and ayre out of our club
This is a joke. Missing out on targets again, can’t wait for the excuses. If we dont make 4th ayre needs to be gone.
Its time that the fans are vocal about these things so the owners start to feel the heat.
another EPIC FAIL by the fookin scumbags running our club
FSG OUT.
SHYSTERS RUINING OUR CLUB.
Yet some of you still believe the hype. Some of you think they saved us. From what?
It is well known we would never have gone down with a 10 or 15 point deduction If we had gone into administration.
We are hopelessly exposed going into the second half of the season with FSG cutting costs whilst raking in sponsorship money.
Will there be 3 new kits in the summer? You are damn right there will be.
Will the season ticket prices go up? Yes, oh yes.
Will Luis still be here in August? Could you blame him for leaving?
F.OFF FSG
Spot on . Fsg out .
I’m pretty sure Suarez wouldn’t have joined in the first place, had we been in administration, do you?
Yawn . The boring troll aaron at it again
Idiot
The level of incompetence at Anfield is staggering. This has to be the worst transfer window ever.
FSG??? Nope, they put the money on the table, yet no players arrived. Whoever is responsible, must be sacked.
It’s FSG fault , they argue over money and try to sign players on the cheap
This is it guys….this is life under FSG…get used to it
No top players
No stadium
NO HOPE UNDER FSG
where is Aaron or what do he call himself.
….Kopman
Not sure what the problem is here. We still have the same squad that was top weeks ago.
Still trolling . Still boring everyone
And we’re now 4th, looks like weve dropped 4 places from being top at xmas, this is why the squad needed strengthening, seems fairly logical to me we needed reinforcements. Afraid youve mugged urself off again matie!
4th is exactly where we want to be matie.
Being top was never going to last no matter what reinforcements came. The three best teams are all above us and we are only really competing with Everton, Tottenham & Utd. We have 15 games to go, no europe and probably lose (as most of you want/dream so you can point your fingers again at rubbish BR&FSG) in the FA cup so not too many games to go.
Your like rabid dogs whenever there is the slightest bit of bad news or poor display but when something positive happens, good display, good result, we were lucky or the other team had injuries or blah blah blah blah.
There should be a severe flood warning in your shoes the amount you people cry over the slightest things yet have no problems turning a blind eye to anything remotely positive.
FSG were billionaires (not millionaires), as you all love to mention, before taking over, why do they need our money now? Are they in danger of being skint? Can they not pay rent on their houses, are they down to their last fast car etc.
How many of you know them, or their business deals and ideas behind them? Not guessing or educated guesses, actually have real knowledge, not fan knowledge, real knowledge?
Probably none, how many of you in board rooms within FTSE 100 companies, probably not many yet all are experts on this site.
Not surprising seeing as we have the most ‘ educated ‘ fans in the country.
YNWA….? They certainly are on this site.
They obviously want money, as does everyone, you generally dont acquire a business to lose money, but you make it sound as if without milking us they’d be destitute, which clearly isn’t the case.
Yawn .
What a bore . The troll talks so much rubbish but nobody cares what the idiot says
Boring troll , still trolling away even though no one listens to this idiot
Whatever way the club ‘dress it up’, it’s another spectacular and very public transfer failure by LFC.
Clearly, LFC don’t want to compete at the very top end of the transfer market and their refusal to go the extra mile may well cost them dear.
The new look ‘transfer comittee’ have been made to look like a bunch of donkeys.
Chelsea, Man Utd, have made clear statements in January, whilst Liverpool seemed to have settled for the tag of ‘best of the rest’.
Man Utd’s ‘ statement ‘ did a lot of good losing to Stoke.
Besides you guys don’t trust Brendan to spend money anyway so why so upset?
Yaaaaaaaaaaawwwnn
Still boring everyone with his trolling comments
Sad aaron has no friends and nothing else to do with his sad life than to troll people’s comments
Idiot
That’s right troll hunter. A recent injury has left me disabled and depressed with life, I barely leave the house these days.
I’ve never had many friends and am an only child (now adult) whose parents died when I was young.
This site and loving my team are a couple of positives I have left, thanks for trying to take it away from me. You’re a lovely, lovely person.
Yawn . Boring troll aaron
Nobody cares about the site troll .
Idiot
I personally wouldn’t reffer to Aaron’s comments as ‘trolling’. I love them , as they point out some of your twisted logic perfectly guys..
Who didnt expect this lets be honest?
What worries me are the number of reds still fooled by FSG.
How many of us think Man United will be as poor in the second half of the season?
This was the window to make it count. And we failed miserably.
This is down there with Arsenal 89 at Anfield and the 1996 Cup Final. A very very bad day ad the repercussions could be massive. This was a big chance to move us back up.
Why did Ian Ayre even get on the plane?
Probably opening a donut shop somewhere
Only the half-witted are still fooled by FSG
Fsg just want champion league money and they are trying to get there on the cheap . They have turned our club into an embarrassing mess .
I think H&G turned us into an embarrassing mess or have I been lost in a time warp and that never happened? If the season ended now or you take the points tally for the last year, at least we’d be an embarrassing mess….. in the CL.
Just something to think about.
Yawn .
Nobody cares what the boring troll aaron says . He only trolls for the attention .
Idiot
I do care what he says , he’s got my attention. Love that guy
Boring troll aaron using different names again
Idiot
Troll hunter repeating himself every time Aaron posts.. Boring idiot. Yawn
unbelievable . already there are fools on here defending ayre /fsg .
according to sky , a fee was agreed ,but there was a disagreement on the timeline of payment . liverpool would NOT agree to dnipros terms THATS WHY THE OWNER WOULDNT SIGN
dont believe the bull and PR fsg will try to make you swallow
fsg are no better than h&G – not one bit
Obviously we are all disappointed. I can’t believe what’s happening to our beloved club that even the not so high profile players are running away from us. As I said many times it comes down to who’s running the team. I have nothing against BR but fellas if you want to compete with the likes of Arsene and Mourinho and attract high profile players then we need to find a high profile Manager. We saw Suarez running out of town last time around. I am sure he would not do such a thing if Benitez, Mourinho, Arsene, Van Gaal were the Managers. Torres left Liverpool right after Benitez left. Because he came to play for Benitez and Suarez came to play with Torres but after they both left Suarez wants to leave as well. Bring back Benitez and you will never see him asking to leave. It has nothing to do with CL. So bring back Benitez and he will build the team for future. He has scouts all over Europe not only to bring established players but recruit future stars as well from the academies of the European clubs. PSG don’t know nothing about Soccer but if you have the right team in place I think we can a build a team and win trophies like Benitez did with limited resources.
Pure farce, looks like a delegation spent 2 days in the Ukraine to try and sign a player who wasn’t “for sale”. The “window” opened on Jan 1st, so we left any potential moves until last minute, completely amateurish, total incompetence. Brendan will now tell us that everyone worked very hard, and that all is well with the “transfer”, (or non-transfer) committee . That said good luck at West Brom, 3 pts obligatory
Another transfer debacle , sooner these pri@ks sell up and get the hell outta our club – the better
Just watch the pr machine pour out all sorts of silly rumours tomorrow. Brendan started the window saying 3 or 4 players in then that got lower then the talk changed to we may wait until the summer that was it sunk Salah deal never was its all hype guys to string us along what club would allow this to go on,is Brendan working for Chelsea and Spurs scouts. We will sign some Spanish un known player for the future what future there won’t be one if we don’t make top four. Brendan won’t be sacked if we don’t as he is clearly being used as a puppet by Fsg. I really thought they cared but its becoming clear they don’t wait to the summer and sign more 21 year olds. I have no faith in Henry and co any more
Just GO mr henry , take your plastic wife and that clown ayres with u
Yanks out ! Even Hicks n Gillett brought in top players and made us successful . With fsg we will always be cheap and no hope of winning anything. 2 sets of wnkers .
I think, you can go check if you like but don’t quote me. Our first trophy since FA cup in 2006 was won under FSG. The team, awful as it was, signed using FSG money (as well as Torres sale) Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Enrique. So they have already made us successful, oh by the way under their ownership we got to two finals, winning one.
Please do a little research Wes before posting nonsense… It’s so simple and has just turned your comment upside down. At least just say you hate FSG and leave it at that.
In fact, research isn’t required ‘if’ you really support the team, unless you talk about things that happened a hundred years ago.
But we don’t do that do we, no one ever accuses LFC fans of living in the past do they?
So now they have PROVEN to be MORE successful than H&G, does that in anyway alter your view? Two finals in four years is not bad considering where we were headed….. Is it?
So you didn’t bother with the research?
what year did we win the CL and what year did H&G buy the club?
First answer is 2004/5
Second answer is 2007
Tell me Wes (mastermind) what trophy did we win after 2006 FA Cup?
If you need.clues, you could always visit the clubs website.
Amazing you have defended your post with more inaccuracies.
Realist now joins the debate…. my prediction is he’ll end up looking foolish, just like Wes (this is like shooting fish in a barrel)
H&&G took over in what month during 2007….? Feb. No input for January sales and team already on course to do well in CL, eventually ended runners up.
a) unsure how their 3 months at the club, no purchases, helped us get to the 2007 final.
b) because of A it removes a large chunk of your list. Quater Finalist, Semi Finalist & Finalist 2007
c) if you still (unbelievable if you do) count them as influential in getting to CL final, you must also hold them responsible for finishing 5th that year and not qualifying in 2010/11
d) I thought you didn’t celebrate being 4th.This Is Liverpool: We count trophies, we aim for first, not runner up medals or runner up places. And you’re highlighting third, second and a Europa Semi as success!
e) what’s the point being feared by Europe if your not in the competition?
f) FSG two finals winning one all with money they spent.
g) FSG four years, one trophy in and only now has the mess left by H&G & some overspending by Comoli just been cleaned up, good chance to finish 4th this year and if that happens not a bad record.
h) you’re trying to defend H&G….. and failing I might add….. my poor child why, in the name of Paisley, why?
i) yep…. my guess is you do look rather foolish.
So just for the record.@realist, and so everyone can hear. The owners who almost bankrupt us, not that long ago, you’d rather they were back in charge instead of FSG?
I understand you hate FSG, nothing wrong with that, but don’t allow it to compromise the last remaining shreds of intellect you managed to salvage from the wreck.
I love you man!
Realist not knowing the meaning of the word success. In football terms it means to win something… Not nearly win something or be a few places from winning something.
To break it down for you, if I was a Hit-Man and had to take someone down, success would be taking him down…. NOT, I repeat, Not… nearly taking him down. The successful shooter of JFK was the guy whose bullet hit his head, not they guy whose gun jammed! Understand now?
So, using my list (your welcome by the way) above, please tell me the success we had under H&G and compare that that with the success of FSG. Please pay special attention to my (success) explanation above. Oh and then as the cherry on top have a little think about whose money cleared whose debt, successfully managing to buy LFC in the process.
Not sure if you know this @realist but we do have a website which outlines our history and success, try using it before posting, and you posted this nonsense twice….. I’d have checked the website at least once if I was you.
Amazes me THAT THE CLUB THINKS WE R GOING THAT WELL WE DONT NEED TO ADD ANYTHING… Will be tearing down the stadium if we miss cl from this position