Analysing the majors deals made under the watch of Kenny Dalglish

Liverpool FC | Monday 23 January 2012 by Richard Blayney

After a string of poor performances by Liverpool, the pitchforks are out and the torches are being lit. Questions are being asked in some media circles about the purchases made by manager Kenny Dalglish with most of the attention being poured on and almost daily basis via some article or another, onto the shoulders of £35-million man, Andy Carroll. Despite the fact that no player sets his own fee, the likes of Carroll has been joined by Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson as players being hailed as ‘transfer busts’ by the club. Rightly neither of the three have panned out, but for each of them there has been a Luis Enrique, Charlie Adam, Craig Bellamy and Luis Suarez; not to mention the money brought in by the sale of Fernando Torres.

Under Kenny Dalglish’s tenure let’s take a look at his purchases, sales and analyse them by the player age, position, the price paid, whether I’d make the deal again and a reason to be positive about that player going forward.

INCOMING:

Name Luis Suarez
Age 23
Position Striker
Price paid £22.8m
Would you do it again? Absolutely yes. Suarez has been great to watch, has chipped in with his fair share of goals and even despite the controversy over the past few months, the team will get a big boost when he returns from suspension.
Reason to be positive His scoring has been down a little this season but the chances have been there and he’s going to return from his suspension angry with something to prove and desperate to repay the fans support of him.

Name Andy Carroll
Age 22
Position Striker
Price paid £35m
Would you do it again? No, not at that price. Newcastle knew Liverpool had money to spend off the back of the Fernando Torres sale and that inflated the price. Had they moved six months earlier, or even this past summer they might have gotten him for £15m less. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Reason to be positive Carroll is 22 and as I wrote earlier in the month, he’s averaging the same number of goals per game as Alan Shearer was at the same stage in his career. His work ethic has been good and it’s been as much a desperate lack of service as anything else that has contributed to his lack of scoring. Confidence is a wonderful thing and a little patience might eventually be rewarded when it returns.

Name Jordan Henderson
Age 21
Position Midfielder
Price paid £16m
Would you do it again? Not at that price. Liverpool paid an inflated fee because the player was young, had potential and, dare I say it, English.
Reason to be positive Like with Carroll, his age is a wonderful thing. Had Henderson been 27 when they paid for him and got this return, I’d certainly have been more worried than I am now. The time it took a young Lucas Leiva to settle in his first few years proves what time can do to a young man.

Name Charlie Adam
Age 25
Position Midfielder
Price paid £8.5m
Would you do it again? Yes. Adam started strong but has faded a little bit in recent weeks, but at £8.5m it was certainly with it for a team that wants to be competing at the sharp end.
Reason to be positive Adam can add strength and creativity to the midfield, though even if the likes of Lucas, Gerrard and eventually Henderson are to keep him out of the side, there is no reason why Adam can’t be the ideal depth player that any good team needs in their squad.

Name Stewart Downing
Age 27
Position Winger
Price paid £18.5m
Would you do it again? No. It was just too much considering Manchester United paid less for Ashley Young.
Reason to be positive Like any new player, it can sometimes take a year or more for them to settle properly. It’s all well and good saying he’s played in this league before, but moving homes and to a new teams system takes some longer than others to adapt. Kenny Dalglish has publicly backed him and if Liverpool can simplify his roll to beating his man to the by-line and getting the ball into the box, he could yet become valuable.

Name Jose Enrique
Age 25
Position Left-back
Price paid £6m
Would you do it again? In a heart-beat
Reason to be positive Enrique has been nothing but a positive. He is probably the fastest man in the lineup which allows him to become almost a second winger when on the attack. It’s the first time in a long time Liverpool have had a solid and reliable left-back.

Name Sebastian Coates
Age 20
Position Centre-back
Price paid £4.9m
Would you do it again? Yes. Despite having featured much, Coates comes with much hype and in this day and age £4.9m is not a lot to pay for potential.
Reason to be positive Coates hasn’t played because for the most part Liverpool have been solid at the back and more experienced names are getting into the side in front of him, but he was a big hit in his native Uruguay and is probably the top central defensive prospect at the club.

Name Craig Bellamy
Age 32
Position Striker/Winger
Price paid Free
Would you do it again? For free? Absolutely. He’s been a fine addition.
Reason to be positive Bellamy was signed for depth up front but in recent games has put a case forward to start regularly, be it on the wing or through the middle. If Liverpool could find a way to have himself and Suarez playing off and around Carroll then Liverpool could solve their scoring problems. Bellamy can be a pain to play against and every team needs someone like that, and at 32 he is still one of the fastest players in the side.

TOTAL BOUGHT: 8
TOTAL SPENT: £111.7m
AVERAGE AGE: 24.4 years.
WOULD DO IT AGAIN’S AT THAT PRICE: 5 out of 8.

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OUTGOING:

Note: There was a number of sales of players that were fringe players at best who have not been included. Here is the more serious sales.

Name Ryan Babel
Age 24
Position Winger/Striker
Price sold £5.8m
Would you do it again? Yes. I have heard little about Babel since he left and it isn’t as if he didn’t get the kind of time we’re asking for the likes of Carroll to be shown now.
Reason to be positive Babel could have used more frequent starts but he never made enough of the chances he got and despite the poor form at times this year I don’t see where he would have fitted in, or how he would have made us better.

Name Fernando Torres
Age 27
Position Striker
Price sold £50m
Would you do it again? For that money? Yes.
Reason to be positive For a player that wanted away and had been out of form all season, to get £50m for him was a fine piece of business. It covered the costs of the signings of Suarez, Downing and Adam, and the way he has performed since arriving, Saurez himself has been an upgrade, so throw in the other two for free. There have been rumours of his return and should they make it happen — almost certainly for much less than £50m — they it would be an even bigger positive.

Name: Paul Konchesky
Age 30
Position Left-back
Price sold £1.5m
Would you do it again? Konchesky never worked out and was on loan the last half of last season anyway. To replace him with a very talented player five years his junior has proven to be more than a good upgrade.
Reason to be positive No need to be positive for I don’t think anyone would take back this move.

Name Raul Meireles
Age 28
Position Midfielder
Price sold £12m
Would you do it again? Yes but only because we got value for money.
Reason to be positive I liked Meireles and until I heard the price we received, I was sad to see him go. But he’s hardly lit it up at Chelsea so far and for the money brought in we were able to buy one Enrique, one Coates and be left with change.

Name: David N’Gog
Age 22
Position Striker
Price sold £4m
Would you do it again? Yes. I never overly rated him though he is young and could yet make something of himself yet.
Reason to be positive I couldn’t imagine him featuring heavily in the side this year. Certainly better suited to the likes of Bolton.

TOTAL SOLD 5
TOTAL SPENT £73.3m
AVERAGE AGE 29.0
TOTAL WOULD DO IT AGAIN’S AT THAT PRICE 5
TOTAL WOULDN’T DO IT AGAIN’S AT THAT PRICE 0

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In Summary

Of the eight buys, there were five I would make again while all five players sold I would deal for the same prices again. Liverpool’s net spend has been £34.4, and while performances on the pitch for the most part have not reflected such money spent from the players lost, the team has gotten 4.6 years younger, which in a rebuild is good to see. Turning a desperately poor team from January 2010 around in the space of twelve months would have been huge ask. These things normally take 2-3 years. They would have needed to spend a lot and spend fast and hope that all those deals worked out, which is unrealistic when you spend heavy and spend fast. The only way to appease the fans — especially under a new ownership looking to make a statement of intent — was to take that risk, and while for the most part I like what we’ve brought in, there was always going to be some gambles that didn’t work out immediately.

But the key word is immediately. In getting 4.6 years younger on the players replacing those sold, Liverpool’s future looks brighter. It should serve them well in rebuilding the side with no doubt further purchases to come in. Now that Dalglish has had twelve full months in charge he will have a better picture than ever as to what players are right for what he is trying to achieve. With a younger core Dalglish can blend them into the style of play he is looking for with greater ease.

The owners have showed they’re willing to spend, but now Liverpool must decide which direction to take: Either spend right and patiently, also content to develop the young players they currently have; Or, throw a lot of cash at the problem repeatedly until it finally works. The second fast rebuild option is never guaranteed to work faster than the patient rebuild, though sometimes it’s what we would all prefer to see. Telling the fans that it could take two to three years to turn a desperate team from January 2010 into a team capable of winning the title, isn’t easy. I often wish we could spend big and get it right because we should always be at the top playing for titles and playing in the Champions League, but is the sense of entitlement that can come with supporting a ‘big team’ and as we all know in reality, no team is entitled to anything.

If us Liverpool fans (as well as the club) can stick with the likes Carroll and Henderson like they did Lucas — without heaping the pressure of a price tag that was market based and not a price ever set by the players themselves — while bringing in the correct support to lighten the burden on them, then I feel it can only be to the teams advantage in the long run.

I hope performances do improve because it’s easy to preach patience when it’s a few days removed from the latest poor outing!