This summer, the 20 football clubs occupying the English Premier League spent close to £500 million on new players in preparation for the challenging year ahead. It is an astonishing total which defines the ambition, expectation and demanding requirements which run through the veins of modern football as clubs continuously strive to succeed. The summer is therefore a crucial time for improving squads by all means necessary.
Liverpool seem not to have grasped the concept of the transfer window however. Important players from last season were poured out of the club with no refill being offered by those in charge at the Merseyside club, who refused to turn the transfer tap on as clubs around them were to reek the benefits of the flowing rush of players coming in.
Integral squad players such as the versatile and energetic presences of Dirk Kuyt and Craig Bellamy in forward positions were let go, as was the improved Maxi Rodriguez and Andy Carroll, yet only Fabio Borini has come in to atone for those departures. Midfield players Charlie Adam and Aquilani who, although considered disappointing signings for the club (a strong theme throughout recent years) were sold with only Swansea's Joe Allen coming in to replace them.
Liverpool have now entered the new season with only two forwards, one of which is a young Chelsea reject with very little Premier League experience, the other who is a misfiring, unpopular Uruguayan who although very dangerous, finds it difficult to find the net on a regular basis.
The midfield is hardly bursting with quality or depth. Gerrard is a constant at Liverpool and now has an impressively promising Joe Allen to play with as well as the increasingly important figure of Lucas Leiva and the intrigue of Nuri Sahin who is on loan at Anfield from Real Madrid for the season. However, Jordan Henderson has been ineffective especially considering the price paid for him and Joe Cole is constantly injured and has failed to impress at Liverpool so far.
Stewart Downing is another of Liverpool's failed adventures in the transfer window, with the £20 million spared for the 28 year-old who contributed no league goals or assists in 36 League games last season a disastrous waste of money. The enthusiastic panache of Raheem Sterling is a rare positive in Liverpool's wild sea of very average players.
Transfer dealings have been a problem for a while now at Anfield, and I believe it is the reason for Liverpool's disappointing record in the League. A brief look at incoming players each season, and you will notice that there are far too many players who are and have been distinctly average. The recent signings of Carroll, Henderson, Downing and Adam who have all so far been frustratingly dissatisfying considering their prices have only highlighted the poor transfer dealings of recent years.
Other flailing "flops" of previous years who did not live up to expectations include Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky, Alberto Aquilani, David N'Gog, Robbie Keane, Ryan Babel, Milan Jovanovic, Albert Reira, Andrei Voronin, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Mark González and Fernando Morientes. These players considered regrettable additions cost Liverpool over £150 million in transfer fees.
It is a terrible record of frustratingly poor signings, a number of which cost the club significant sums of money, with Liverpool often overpaying. What is even more disconcerting is that these poor additions to the squad have not been from one manager alone, but from many managers across a considerable period of time and as a result has led to minimal success.
Looking at these players it is understandable why Liverpool have been so bad in the League for so long - they have been pumping themselves with painfully average players for so long, leading to their worst points total for 20 years last season finishing eight with only 52 points.
As clubs around them have improved or stayed consistently strong due to shrewd moves, clever, professional scouting and the avoidance of panicky, knee-jerk reactions to hindering departures, Liverpool have been continuously purchasing players who fail to improve the squad, who offer false hope and add a whole lot of embittered disappointment which led to the sacking of the previously un-sackable club legend Kenny Dalglish last season.
Brendan Rodgers has a very tough battle ahead of him to fight this dangerous addiction of the decidedly average and lift the club to its former glory days of European dominance. If Liverpool fans are to wish for anything, it must surely be that Rodger's signings this summer and in future windows will not be as awful as what has been brought in before. If Liverpool are to move forward, their transfer dealings must drastically improve - as well as of course, the teams on-field performances.
