Who is Liverpool’s most expensive signing of the Premier League era? It seems a simple enough question.
Virgil van Dijk arrived from Southampton for just over £75million in January 2018 and comfortably remains the record purchase in literal terms.
But what about the true cost of the priciest players to arrive at Anfield before Van Dijk?
What about when inflation – and the huge increased revenue flowing into football in recent years – is taken into account?
So who – in real terms – is Liverpool’s biggest ever investment in the Premier League era. . .
And who are their best and worst value for money signings?
Using totallymoney.com’s Transfer Index*, which factors in spiralling revenues within the Premier League as well as basic inflation to put an accurate value on signings of the past, we can tell you.
Liverpool’s top 10 most expensive signings of the Premier League era
Naby Keita
Original fee: £54m
Modern money: £61.2m
Keita is surely the only club record transfer in Premier League history whose fee was eclipsed before he stepped onto the pitch for his new club.
A deal for him was sealed in early 2019 to ensure his arrival at Anfield that summer . . . by which time Virgil van Dijk had been bought for a bigger fee.
The midfielder’s time on Merseyside so far has been restricted by injuries, but there is a strong belief he will come good.
Alisson Becker
Original fee: £56.2m
Modern money: £63.7m
The Brazilian was the most expensive goalkeeper in football history for a few weeks in the summer of 2018, before Kepa Arrizabalaga’s Chelsea move.
But Alisson’s sizeable fee has been more than matched by his impact, which has seen him enhance the air of defensive calm brought by Van Dijk.
Most notably, his point-blank stop from Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik in December 2018’s Champions League Group C decider was what ultimately made Liverpool’s glory night in Madrid.
Djibril Cisse
Original fee: £14m
Modern money: £64.5m
Transferred to: Marseille
Season: 2007-08
Original fee: £8.1m
Modern money: £20.6m
The eccentric Cisse's arrival for a record fee in the summer of 2004 was, effectively, Gerard Houllier’s parting gift to Liverpool and new boss Rafael Benitez.
A successful penalty in the 2005 Champions League final, two goals in the UEFA Super Cup success soon afterwards and a superb volley to kickstart the 2006 FA Cup ginal comeback against West Ham were highlights, but injuries – not least two leg breaks – brought inconsistency.
The second of those, suffered playing for France in a June 2006 friendly, came just weeks prior to a loan move to Marseille made permanent a year later.
Luis Suarez
Original fee: £23.8m
Modern money: £65.6m
Transferred to: Barcelona
Season: 2014-15
Original fee: £73.5m
Modern money: £132m
As with Virgil van Dijk’s £75m, just how good does the money spent on Suarez, even in today’s terms, look now?
Although controversial as well as brilliant, the brilliance held increasing sway as the Uruguayan’s Anfield career evolved.
Having scored 30 goals in 2012-13, 31 more in just 33 Premier League appearances the following season so nearly inspired Brendan Rodgers’ men to a first league title in 24 years.
His July 2014 departure was a sizeable blow but did give the club over £70 million to reinvest.
But even though that equates to over £130m today, who could possibly argue Suarez was not worth that price?
Christian Benteke
Original fee: £31m
Modern money: £58m
Original fee: £28m
Modern money: £38.5m
If Suarez was that rare big-money bargain, Benteke was a common flop.
At just under £60m in today’s money, a winner against Bournemouth on debut and a thunderous overhead kick at Old Trafford a few weeks later suggested he might justify his fee.
But a thigh injury interrupted his progress, and although goals in successive substitute appearances on his return hinted at an emphatic recovery, Benteke made only nine more Premier League starts in 2015-16.
That was because his attributes never truly aligned with those of Jurgen Klopp, who had arrived when Benteke was sidelined.
Liverpool recouped what might look a respectable sum for him from Crystal Palace in August 2016, but it actually represented a near-£30m loss in today’s money.
Phil Babb
Original fee: £4.8m
Modern money: £69m
Transferred to: Sporting CP
Original fee: Free
Modern money: Free
Phil Babb? Almost £70m?
Yes, that’s what the deal which made him Britain’s most expensive defender at the time would be worth today.
For a while, Babb made a decent fist of replicating the 1994 World Cup form for the Republic of Ireland which earned him his Anfield move, becoming a cornerstone of Roy Evans’ 3-5-2 formation.
But he lost his regular starting place in 1996-97, and so too any consistent form.
Having helped Tranmere Rovers to the League Cup final during a one-month loan in early 2000, he joined Sporting Lisbon on a free transfer that summer.
Virgil van Dijk
Original fee: £76m
Modern money: £77m
Arguably the most transformative Liverpool signing of the Premier League era – and a bargain, no matter that £75m made him the world’s priciest defender.
He swiftly added self-assurance to the backline, which goalkeeper Alisson then built upon, and has been pivotal to each of the four trophies the Reds have won since.
Injured now, of course – and the public reaction to his long-term lay-off was a measure of both his level of performance and what he has brought out in others since his arrival.
Fernando Torres
Original fee: £23m
Modern money: £70m
Transferred to: Chelsea
Original fee: £52m
Modern money: £144.9m
Another striker who, at Liverpool at least, more than carried off his huge fee.
A club record signing in July 2007, the Spaniard swiftly became an icon as he notched 33 goals in all competitions in his debut season.
Almost 50 more followed in the next two-and-a-half campaigns.
But a lack of silverware at Anfield – not to mention an offer worth not far shy of £150m today – prompted his controversial move to Chelsea in January 2011.
Controversial, and largely unsuccessful.
Andy Carroll
Original fee: £36.9m
Modern money: £101.6m
Transferred to: West Ham United
Original fee: £15.7m
Modern money: £28.8m
Perhaps the most infamous buy in the Reds’ recent history – and, in pure cash terms, one of the Premier League’s costliest ever mistakes.
Banking on an inflated fee from Chelsea for Torres, Kenny Dalglish agreed to pay over the odds for Newcastle cult hero Carroll.
But 11 goals in 58 matches was not a return which tallied up with a fee now worth over £100m.
Not that injuries, and tactics which often betrayed the big striker’s strengths, helped.
The memory of Carroll’s FA Cup semi-final winner against Everton remains treasured, but it was the archetypal flash in the pan.
And after loaning him to West Ham in August 2012, Liverpool took a huge hit the following summer in making that move permanent . . . at a loss worth £70m-plus today.
Stan Collymore
Original fee £11.7m
Today’s money: £111,144,872
Transferred to: Aston Villa
Season: 1997-98
Original fee: £9,450,000
Modern money: £54,459,896
It may have been all but forgotten that Collymore arrived at Anfield as a British record signing.
But while Liverpool ended up selling him for what was half of what they paid for him in today’s money, he was no outright flop.
A return of 35 goals in 81 games represented a very decent record, and he and Robbie Fowler struck up an excellent, if intermittent, partnership.
That was most famously demonstrated in the 4-3 home win over Newcastle in April 1996, when both scored twice in probably the most celebrated game in Premier League history.
And what about Liverpool’s three worst Premier League buys?
Mario Balotelli
Original fee: £18m
Today’s money: £32m
Transferred to: Nice
Season: 2016-17
Original fee: Free
Modern money: Free
Not perhaps the biggest financial gamble Liverpool have ever taken – but a waste of money nonetheless.
Having shone intermittently for Manchester City and Italy, Balotelli’s ability was not in question.
But his inconsistency hit unperecedented heights at Anfield, resulting in a pretty miserable return of one goal in 2014-15 in each of the Champions League, League Cup, Premier League and Europa League.
With Raheem Sterling fast emerging, Balotelli disappeared to Milan on loan and then Nice – for nothing – a year later.
Not such a Nice deal . . .
Lazar Marković
Original fee: £22.5m
Today’s money: £40.4m
Transferred to: Fulham
Season: 2018-19
Original fee: Free
Modern money: Free
A £40m-plus write-off in today’s money, the Serb hung around for an age at Anfield – but his name is not often spoken now on Merseyside.
There was the odd flash of quality and promise in his single active season, but inconsistency denied him a regular starting place.
And, from there, anonymity beckoned.
Loan spells at Fenerbahçe, Sporting Lisbon, Hull City and Anderlecht across the next four seasons raised consistent concerns about his fitness levels.
And, as with Balotelli, Liverpool were happy to simply cut him free when the chance finally came in January 2019.
Andy Carroll
Original fee: £36.9m
Modern money: £101.6m
Transferred to: West Ham United
Original fee: £15.7m
Modern money: £28.8m
He contributed considerably more in a red shirt than both Marković and Balotelli, but the numbers on Carroll – and their sheer size – don’t lie.
In today’s money, Liverpool took a £70m-plus loss on him.
Yes, he was bought with money banked from selling Fernando Torres. But it was money the Reds could have spent far better elsewhere.
*Transfer Index inflation calculations done up to end of 2019-20 season. Zero added additional inflation applied to figures due to Covid-19 pandemic.
*Statistics correct as of 30-11-2020.
