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Is Liverpool’s transfer market approach too prudent?

By on July 23, 2015

How does one know when a club has ascended to the status of a Premier League giant? The club doesn’t need much history, and a comfortable, 45,000 seater stadium will do. The sparkling training facilities, massive fan base and gigantic back room staff comes along with glory; but one really knows who’s who in the world of football depending on how often they’re in the back pages of the newspaper. Once a club is linked with the biggest stars, the most scandalous controversies and the longest transfer sagas, it is evident that it has begun to throw its weight around.

Take Real Madrid, for example. They’ve been linked with Marcos Reus, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and generally any top player potentially on the move. However fantastical, the rumors make sense because Madrid is one of the biggest clubs in the world. And then there is David de Gea’s drawn out saga.

This summer alone, the papers have suggested Thomas Muller, Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale, and Pedro are connected with the club and United have already signed Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Matteo Darmian and Morgan Schneiderlin. Cristiano Ronaldo also seems to be perennially in the periphery. And then Louis van Gaal gulps it up, baiting then switching the media with a “surprise” striker, or lack thereof, and so forth.

There is Chelsea, Manchester City, and Arsenal, oh Arsenal! Liverpool, too, is undoubtedly one of the biggest clubs, in terms of fanbase and trophies, in the world. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon and are expanding Anfield, a hollowed ground in English football. Their commercial success is all but guaranteed, and although their fortunes on the pitch fluctuate, the club will undoubtedly be in the European race for the foreseeable future.

However, it is clear that their status among the top seven in the Premier League has descended. There is no taking away their eighteen league titles but none have come during the Premier League era. Their Champions League-winning squad featuring Steven Gerrard, with the likes of Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, and Jamie Carragher playing week-in-and-week-out during the same era for the club, was up there with the best. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge spearheaded a great side up front in the 2012/2013 season. While they have no shortage of talent, the club is always one good season or great addition away from the top.

So, naturally, the papers salivate over the club’s transfer dealings. But The Reds haven’t quite the deep pockets as some of their rivals, or spun differently, they consciously choose not to splash cash around in the same profligate manner. The result? The perhaps unfortunate reality is that while Liverpool are linked with the big boys, often they instead buy the young developing players, or those just a notch below in the pecking order. Christian Benteke, Nathaniel Clyne, and Roberto Firmino this summer are prime examples, as young players excelling for smaller clubs before being picked up by Brendan Rodgers. They aren’t traded for outrageous sums and often, the signings are gambles for the club, relying heavily on potential. Sometimes, this works out beyond expectations, in the case of Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, and Philippe Coutinho, but others, such as Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana, and Dejan Lovren struggle in their new environment.

Often, the best players leave Anfield, in the fashion of a selling club. Raheem Sterling’s will to leave the club for Manchester City this summer could be pinned on many things, but the wish to win trophies was perhaps one of them. Liverpool and Rodgers wisely reinvest the money, but the cycle in part explains Liverpool’s inconsistent ability to challenge with the best. The upside is that it’s a cost-efficient way of running a football club.

Of course, entering the merry-go-round of paying absorbent sums for international stars and maintaining incredible contracts to keep them can create its own issues. There will be even more dramatic flops, sagas and scandals. But isn’t that what it means to be an ever-present giant of world football in this modern age?

Photo credit: Bernard Chan, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.