Clint Dempsey, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Diego Costa, Mohamed Salah, Yevhen Konoplyanka, Alexis Sanchez, Victor Valdez. Liverpool have missed out on all of these players and more in the last three years. We were outbid by Spurs for Dempsey, Klopp convinced Mkhitaryan to join Dortmund instead, Costa moved to Chelsea a year after Liverpool tried to sign him, Salah chose to be a bench warmer for Chelsea, we didn't offer enough for Konoplyanka, Sanchez chose London over Liverpool and Valdez chose Man U over us.
Today it was announced that Liverpool missed out on another top target, 21 year old superstar winger, Memphis Depay to Manchester United. So what is the reason Liverpool are so bad at signing top targets? Brendan Rodgers.
Many fans will place blame on the transfer committee or more specifically chief executive Ian Ayre on our transfer woes. They might be right, but looking at the previously named players you can see that Liverpool are targeting the right players...at first. The problem is that they have failed to convince those players that Liverpool are the right club for them, and then have to settle for players like Assaidi, Markovic and Balotelli.
Liverpool, under Fenway Sports Group, have made a concentrated effort to reduce player wages the past few years. Fans may blame this stinginess with player wages as the reason for their failure to sign a higher caliber of player. I believe that this may be true to a point, but it is not the biggest reason.
Failure to be consistently competing in the Champions League has been perhaps the biggest hindrance to the transfer problem. Liverpool missed out on a fantastic opportunity last summer as Champions League and an obese transfer kitty (from the Suarez sale) were once again at Liverpool's disposal to bring in top targets, but still failed to do so. With no Champions League next season (bar an epic miracle happens) it will probably be even more difficult to attract big talents to Anfield.
So Liverpool must look at what they can change in the immediate future to buck this trend of mediocrity in the transfer market. The change that can make all the difference is the managerial seat. Players want to play for top managers, it is an obvious statement, but important to understand. Under Rafael Benitez Liverpool signed players like Torres, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Reina, to name a few. Even under Dalglish, who had been out of the managerial game for years, was able to attract the likes of Carrol, Suarez and Henderson.
Now we look at Rodgers. When he was appointed Liverpool manager he had just had a surprisingly successful first season with Swansea in the Premier League. Rodgers' first signings were Borini and Allen (who he knew from his time with them at Swansea), Assaidi, and a loan move for Nuri Sahin. It is safe to say that all of those signings have not been successful for Liverpool. When Liverpool appointed Rodgers they began to implement a new transfer policy based on signing young talents with potential to grow into superstars. Rodgers hit the jackpot with the January signings of Sturridge and Coutinho but since then none of his young signings have been able to replicate such miraculous growth.
And then Liverpool entered into the era of missing out on players. I believe that it is Rodgers' reputation that is to blame for transfer failings. It is clear that many Liverpool players do not respect Rodgers.When players have the choice to play for the likes of Wenger, Klopp, Mourinho,van Gaal or Rodgers, most players will choose the formers. And so this brings us to what Liverpool can do to solve this problem, they can bring in a manager of elite status, a manager who top players want to play for.
Liverpool should be doing all they can to bring in one of the top managers in the world this summer who in recent weeks made it be known that he is seeking employment elsewhere. Jurgen Klopp will certainly have many suitors this summer, but this is one transfer that I hope Liverpool can pull off, and by doing so will be able to pull off many top transfers in the future that previously would have escaped us.
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