Transfer failures !

[ukfootballfan101]

Wasn't he actually involved in a swap for Insua? In which case I think we did pretty well out of that.

You're right! and he plays for Boca Juniors, not Sao Paulo! (wrong country!!)


Updated - you got there first SlovenianKopite!

[Nick77]

Butter fingers Taibi (sp)

Except against us of course!

[ric.williams]

mark 'i love the beak' bosnich?

[Deano73]

thats a different argument alltogether

No it's not. We all know that every manager has a mixed success rate in the transfer market. However, until Rafa wins the prem, he's perceived failures will always be subject to intense scrutiny by the media and message boards whilst Fergie's, Wenger's and Mourinho's will always be overlooked because they've each won the prem x amount of times.

Its the same with zonal marking, not playing 442 (god forbid) etc, etc. These are all the things that have been used by various pundits/journo as sticks to beat Rafa with when things aren't going well for us. If and when he wins the Prem, I think you'll find you won't be reading these type of articles anymore.

[red g]

No it's not. We all know that every manager has a mixed success rate in the transfer market. However, until Rafa wins the prem, he's perceived failures will always be subject to intense scrutiny by the media and message boards whilst Fergie's, Wenger's and Mourinho's will always be overlooked because they've each won the prem x amount of times.

Its the same with zonal marking, not playing 442 (god forbid) etc, etc. These are all the things that have been used by various pundits/journo as sticks to beat Rafa with when things aren't going well for us. If and when he wins the Prem, I think you'll find you won't be reading these type of articles anymore.

fair point.

[Kenneth]

Mauricio Pellegrino - signed for free, released for free. He was an important figure on the training ground in Rafa's first season, he helped bed in the zonal marking system, has not returned as a coach.

Yes he has.

[rezaeos]

Interesting Article From The Guardian.

I came across this article that pretty much sums up most of Rafa's duds in the transfer market. One thing is a recurring theme in the majority of transfers. Rafa is trying to get Blood out of stone. I have copied and pasted the article for ease of viewing. This article is from Dec 2008 and hence has to be updated as far as Pennant is concerned. I had very high hopes for Mark Gonzalez. I wonder if Antonio Barragán has improved much?

"Liverpool's transfer failures"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/gallery/2008/dec/17/liverpool-transfer-failures?picture=340822734

1 / 11 Craig Bellamy (£6.5m): He was supposed to have “the ability, the pace and the talent we’ve been looking for” when he moved from Blackburn in July 2006. Within months he was attacking team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club in a karaoke-related incident, and when Fernando Torres joined he signed for West Ham for £7.5m. “I could sit at Liverpool as a squad player,” he said, “but I’d be cheating myself and my personality.”

2 / 11 Gabriel Paletta (£2m): Trumpeted as “exactly the sort of player we need who will suit the Premier League”. In fact the Argentinian centre-back started only two league games, Liverpool lost them both (to Portsmouth and Fulham) and now he’s back in Argentina


3 / 11 Andriy Voronin (free): Ukrainian striker who’s blonde pony-tail and broad physique made him stand out from the average footballer. “He’s a good worker and he scores goals,” said Benitez. Six of them, to be precise. Now on loan for the season at Hertha Berlin

4 / 11 Jan Kromkamp (swap): The Dutchman’s career was on the slide: Villarreal signed him from Alkmaar for £5m, but gave him to Liverpool six months later in exchange for Josemi. He hadn’t reached the bottom: another six months and he was back in Holland, with PSV



5 / 11 Antonio Barragán (free): A right-back snapped up from Sevilla before he had made a first-team appearance, Barragán played for 11 minutes of a Champions League tie againsst CSKA Sofia, his entire first-team experience before being sold to Deportivo La Coruna. Liverpool have a buy-back option, so fans might not have seen the last of him



6 / 11 Mark Gonzalez (£4.5m): “Only if you know nothing about football could you say he is not good enough to play in the Premiership,” fumed Benítez after the speedy winger was refused a work permit in 2005. A year later he got his permit. A year after that he had been sold to Real Betis. Apparently he was not good enough to play in the Premiership

7 / 11 Mauricio Pellegrino (free): The first Argentinian to play for Liverpool, but he didn’t do it very often. Already 33 when he signed, he was still 33 when he left, 12 appearances later. Now back, as first-team coach


8 / 11 Fernando Morientes (£6.3m): Arrived with a wonderful reputation as one of Europe’s premier goalscorers, but showed little of that talent in his 18 months on Merseyside, scoring just eight league goals at a rate of one every five games. “I had a good first year but the second was worse. The last three months were terrible,” he surmised


9 / 11 Josemi (£2.6m): Benítez’s first signing for Liverpool, “a right-sided player in the Jamie Carragher mould” who “is good in the air and can make this team stronger”. After 21 appearances in two seasons he was given away. “I didn’t like beans on toast,” he said. “I prefer to eat Spanish food.”


10 / 11 Antonio Nunez (swap): “Nunez is an important signing,” said Benitez of the man who came from Real Madrid as part of the deal that took Michael Owen to Spain. But he tore knee ligaments in his second training session and left a year later with nothing but a Champions League winner’s medal to show for his time in England.

11 / 11 Jermaine Pennant (£6.7m): “I’ve dreamt about this since I was a little boy,” said Pennant when he moved from Birmingham. In the last year of his contract and apparently on his way out, though he is said to have turned down approaches from Stoke and Blackburn. Just four appearances this season.


It's hard to think how we could buy Xabi and Torres on one hand and get things so wrong in other cases. Ultimately, with Keane being the exception, we seem to get what we pay for. Not many bargains available to Rafa. Josemi's comment really ticked me off.

[redlancer]

1 / 11 Craig Bellamy (£6.5m): no argumnets

2 / 11 Gabriel Paletta (£2m): forgot about him

3 / 11 Andriy Voronin (free): the word free re transfer failures is an odd one

4 / 11 Jan Kromkamp (swap): always had the potential to be homesick

5 / 11 Antonio Barragán (free): again free

6 / 11 Mark Gonzalez (£4.5m): should and could of done better

7 / 11 Mauricio Pellegrino (free): was brought in as much to play as to sort out the defence - game Sami a break

8 / 11 Fernando Morientes (£6.3m): didn't work out and seemd to dissapear

9 / 11 Josemi (£2.6m):

10 / 11 Antonio Nunez (swap): “Nunez is an important signing,” said Benitez - and that header proved it

11 / 11 Jermaine Pennant (£6.7m): “I’ve dreamt about this since I was a little boy,” 6.7M about 7M too much

[rezaeos]

Shame about Gonzalez. I think we all had high hopes for him. How is he getting on these days?

[twistnkuyt]

So 11 flops in 5 seasons, good record I'd say.

Bollocks article designed to do nothing but have a go and undermine what Rafa has/is doing with us.

[rezaeos]

Signing Torres and Xabi makes up for these lot. How I wish we had the money the Renties have.

[magicalbarnes]

You could list any managers bad buys in an article to put a negative spin on things. Rafa's good buys are not listed.

What i like about Rafa is that he isn't too proud to ship one of his bad buys out quickly. Under Houllier he yould stick with them for years, just to prove a point

[Matt]

Some perspective - 5 players on that list joined for no money; the other 6 joined for a combined fee similar to what Utd spunked on Veron.

We aren't the only team who makes bad buys.

[babylon]

The single interesting in point in that article is that out of that extensive list of 'transfer failures', The club made a total loss of roughly 3 or 4 million pounds.

It is amazing how a good story to slur a top managers name can be turned on it's head using the facts stated in said article to prove that Rafa is actually extremely shrewd in the transfer market.


Add Keane into the mix if you like some reports state that we will take a 3 or 4 million hit on him, but he was a very bizarre case, very highly politically charged.

[The_weatherman]

1 / 11 Craig Bellamy (£6.5m): no argumnets

2 / 11 Gabriel Paletta (£2m): forgot about him

3 / 11 Andriy Voronin (free): the word free re transfer failures is an odd one

4 / 11 Jan Kromkamp (swap): always had the potential to be homesick

5 / 11 Antonio Barragán (free): again free

6 / 11 Mark Gonzalez (£4.5m): should and could of done better

7 / 11 Mauricio Pellegrino (free): was brought in as much to play as to sort out the defence - game Sami a break

8 / 11 Fernando Morientes (£6.3m): didn't work out and seemd to dissapear

9 / 11 Josemi (£2.6m):

10 / 11 Antonio Nunez (swap): “Nunez is an important signing,” said Benitez - and that header proved it

11 / 11 Jermaine Pennant (£6.7m): “I’ve dreamt about this since I was a little boy,” 6.7M about 7M too much

I think the only ones we lost any money on were Morientes and Pennant and it was unclear with Gonzales if we had profit or loss on him - profit on Bellamy and broke evenish on the rest. Not bad IMO.