A recurring theme during Liverpool’s thirty-year league title drought was the frustrating spectacle of a big-money striker arriving at Anfield only to be shoved out onto the wing when things weren’t working out.
The repurposing of Mohamed Salah as a right-sided forward following his £36m arrival from AS Roma as a winger in 2017 reversed and broke that chain to some degree but before then, the likes of Stan Collymore, Emile Heskey, El Hadji Diouf and Djibril Cisse had all found themselves playing wide after initial hopes they might be the answer through the middle had floundered.
There was one example during this era however where a shift to the flanks actually worked out well for all concerned.
Dirk Kuyt followed in the footsteps of the aforementioned quartet when he arrived at Anfield from Feyenoord for £10m in August 2006 with a big price tag and big expectations that he would provide the goals that might lead the Reds to the holy grail of that long-awaited 19th league title.
He left six seasons later having managed an on-the-face-of-it unimpressive strike ratio of almost exactly one every four games but with the love and gratitude of a Liverpool fanbase who had greatly appreciated his relentless work-rate, selfless team play and knack of scoring big goals in matches that mattered.
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His time in L4 coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the club which ultimately prevented a talented but under-resourced squad fulfilling its undoubted potential but the Dutchman’s drive and dedication to the cause carved him a place in Liverpool folklore and in the hearts of many supporters who admired and could relate to his working-class values.
Kuyt may have been 26 years old by the time he pitched up on Merseyside but was perhaps destined to become a local hero given his background in the Netherlands which in many ways acted as perfect preparation.
Born into a fishing family in Katwijk aan Zee, a small coastal town near the North Sea, although he had become involved with the local amateur football club - Quick Boys - at the age of just five, he was so initially absorbed in the maritime way of life that following his father into the family business as a fisherman seemed a given to the youngster until his dad, more convinced of his son’s abilities than anyone, convinced him to think again.
“When I was a kid I adored AC Milan”, Kuyt revealed.
“They were winning everything with some great Dutch players. Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard. But I always knew I was never going to be like one of the greats. Look at a player like Van Persie. He’s maybe not as good as Cruyff but he’s a typical Dutch player. He has the skill and the talent. But that’s not me. I told my father I wanted to be like him, a fisherman. But when I was 11 he said I should stay on the land and try to become a footballer. He said I had a decision to make.
“Even then, though, I knew I would have to work hard to get anywhere. I started playing for my local club in Katwijk aan Zee, a club called Quick Boys, and people always told me the best I could ever hope for was playing first team football for them. ‘You’re a good player’, they’d say. ‘But that’s the most you can hope to achieve.’”
Having already observed how those principles of hard work and collective effort were at the heart of the fishing community his family was a part of, the youngster heeded his father’s advice and finally broke into the Quick Boys first team at 18, which in itself at the time fulfilled his own modest ambitions and expectations of himself.
"In Holland, you start at the age of five at an amateur club and at that age I was doing fine," he remembered.
"I was with Quick Boys and I was enjoying myself. But, by the time boys reach 14 or 15, the good ones go off to the academies of clubs like Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax. At that stage, though, nobody was showing an interest in me. Not at 15 or 16 either. By then I thought that, even if did eventually make it into the professional ranks, I was never going to play for one of the bigger clubs. I just had one dream. To play in the first team for my amateur club."
Achieving his dream with Quick Boys quickly disproved his theory about playing at a higher level with a move to Eredivsie club FC Utrecht soon following and he immediately established himself in the first team, sometimes playing as a striker but often also as a winger which undoubtedly helped give him a grounding and understanding of the various attacking positions Liverpool would benefit from later on.
His fifth and final season at the Stadion Galgenwaard was his most successful when, installed in a more central role by new manager Foeke Booy, Kuyt bagged 20 league goals and helped the club to only its second ever KNVB Dutch Cup final win where he scored one of the goals in a 4-1 win over Feyenoord. The Rotterdam-based giants were about to lose Pierre van Hoojidonk and swooped for Kuyt as his replacement in a €1m deal where he immediately became a fan favourite, scoring 20 league goals again in his first season at the De Kuip.
He was the Eredivisie’s top scorer the following campaign with 29, the highest tally of his career, and having been handed the captaincy in 2005/06 managed another 25 in all competitions while forming an effective partnership with Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou.
The pair’s goalscoring efforts were drawing attention from across Europe and Kalou was snapped up by Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea for £9m before the end of May 2006 with Kuyt reportedly also drawing Premier League attention from Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and Liverpool and having made his international debut two years earlier in Marco van Basten’s first game as Holland manager, Kuyt was part of the Dutch squad which travelled to Germany for that summer’s World Cup, starting two of his country’s four matches at the tournament including their last 16 exit to Portugal.
Rafa Benitez’s first two seasons as Liverpool manager had seen the Champions League and FA Cup brought back to Anfield but the Spaniard’s squad-rebuilding process was still a work in progress particularly up front where, having inherited Milan Baros (who he sold to Aston Villa after his first season) and Dijibril Cisse, and brought in Fernando Morientes and Peter Crouch to the club himself, questions still remained about the Reds’ cutting edge in attack.
Kuyt’s impressive goal return, albeit in a less accomplished league, along with his admirable consistency (he missed just five games in seven Eredivisie seasons including a run of 179 consecutive appearances) caused Liverpool to swoop in a £10m deal the day before the opening league fixture away to Sheffield United.
The Dutchman had spoken earlier in the summer of his desire to try his luck in the Premier League and, having put pen to paper after being assured by Dutch boss Marco van Basten Liverpool was the right club for him, spoke of the confidence he had that his goalscoring ability would translate to the higher level in England.
“I have scored plenty of goals in Holland and aim to do the same here”, Kuyt said.
"It is not important who scores as long as the team wins. But I know I can score goals and make goals and I expect to score a lot of goals in England.
"For me, Liverpool is sure to be the dream club I was looking for. There was more interest from abroad, but for me there was nothing of the calibre of Liverpool, a brilliant club with an enormous reputation."
Benitez had been trying to sign Kuyt since his time in charge of Valencia and, having finally managed to secure the kind of versatile player which fitted the model he wanted of flexible, tactically aware operators able to figure in every position across the frontline, spoke of his delight at his latest capture.
"He will be a good player for us”, the Liverpool boss predicted.
“We’ve been trying to find a top goalscorer in Europe. That's difficult, but we knew Kuyt was one such player. He's been playing well for a long time, and he's someone I'm sure will bring quality to the team. Sometimes you see a top class player who may find it hard to adapt to the Premiership, but in his case he has the work rate, game intelligence and goalscoring ability to make him succeed in England.
“We needed someone who would be different to Bellamy and Robbie, but maybe similar in a way to Crouch. Kuyt can not only play as a target man, he can play as the second striker, on the right or on the left.
“We first talked about him when we were at Valencia. That was when we first monitored him and kept having him watched. I know Liverpool supporters like players who work really hard, and he is like this. He is a complete type of player. He does everything well. He'll score with both feet and his head."
Kuyt’s move into the big time was also a source of great joy and pride back in Katwijk, where Quick Boys benefitted to the tune of £300,000 from his move to Anfield which helped pay for a new stand named after him, the comments of his one of his former coaches warming the hearts of Liverpudlians that their new signing was of a different ilk to some of the self-absorbed prima donnas the game now seemed to be littered with.
“He scores goals but is the best team player in the world,” said Dirk van Duyn, who coached Kuyt during his youth.
“The people of Katwijk are workers, the best newspaper of the village is to listen to the old fishermen.
“Liverpool are perfect for him. He will never walk alone.”
The truth of these remarks and Kuyt’s sheer endeavour and willingness to graft for the team was evident from his first appearance in a red shirt.
Coming off the bench to replace Peter Crouch seven minutes after half time in Liverpool’s opening home game of the season against West Ham, he tore around the pitch with like an enthusiastic over-sized puppy dressed in red, having a crack at goal from an unlikely angle with virtually his first touch and leaving those watching under no illusions of his eagerness to impress.
He would have to wait until his fifth game before poaching his first goal for his new club, sliding home a Steve Finnan cross from close range to open the scoring in a 2-0 home win over Newcastle and would finish his maiden season at Anfield with 14 strikes in 48 appearances across all competitions, a somewhat underwhelming tally given the numbers he had been posting at home but one in keeping with a Liverpool side still in transition and trying to find its own identity during another long and topsy-turvy season.
Poor away form which did not see a league win away from Anfield until early December and a series of early season defeats to rivals meant the hoped-for title bid never materialised but Benitez’s tactical acumen coupled with the rapidly-growing experience of his side saw a second Champions League final in three years reached.
Kuyt had given early warning of taste for the big occasion by bagging the biggest goal of his Liverpool career to date when producing a composed finish just three minutes into the Premier League visit of back-to-back champions Chelsea in January that helped set up an important 2-0 victory and the return of Jose Mourinho’s side at the start of May in the second leg of the Champions League semi finals saw an even more impressive showing from the Dutch forward, albeit one which summed up in some ways the hard lines he would experience during his time with the Reds.
With Liverpool’s trailing to Joe Cole’s goal after the Stamford Bridge first leg, Daniel Agger’s slick finish from a quickly taken free kick levelled the tie early at Anfield and emulated the scoreline from the iconic L4 second leg of 24 months earlier. That was where the similarities ended however as, while 2005 was a real backs-to-the-wall job from Benitez’s men in their bid to reach Istanbul, the 2007 Reds took the game to a Chelsea side about to lose their grip on the league title to Manchester United and a few months later the self styled ‘Special One’ and in truth should have secured their place in Athens without the need for extra time, let alone penalties.
Kuyt came as close to anyone to bagging the second goal on the night which would have given the Reds the aggregate lead, rattling the crossbar with a second half header as Liverpool piled the pressure on, the Dutchman then having what should have been the winning goal in extra time incorrectly ruled out due to a linesman’s offside flag.
It was a form of poetic justice when it was left to him to slot home the winning penalty in the shoot-out after Pepe Reina had saved from Arjen Robben and Geremi to send Anfield wild and the Reds off to Greece, where Kuyt would again find the net but only very late on in consolation with AC Milan gaining revenge for Istanbul with a 2-1 victory. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise encouraging opening season for the Dutchman that seemed to have laid the foundations for greater successes to come but life would get tougher for him first.
Even though initial perceptions of him had been pretty favourable overall, Kuyt’s unique and at times unconventional style of play did occasionally make for ribald comment.
Although clearly blessed with a fine football brain and understanding, his relatively limited physical and technical attributes sometimes betrayed what his head was telling his limbs to do, Jamie Carragher once memorably describing his lack of pace as “running as if he had a parachute on”.
His instincts and professionalism on a number of occasions enabled him to rise above a poor personal performance to produce a telling moment of significance in a match and a fine example came during his first Liverpool season when the Reds travelled to West Ham at the end of January.
After a goalless and unimpressive opening period from both team and individual, Kuyt rectified matters in the first minute of the second half by taking a Peter Crouch pass and firing into the top corner from 25 yards to set the Reds on their way to would be a 2-0 away win and revealed to TalkSport years later how Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard had summed his contribution afterwards.
“Stevie was such a great personality and a real captain, he was not a guy of many words, but when he said something, it definitely means something,” Kuyt said.
“I remember one game, I was playing an away game against West Ham, probably one of the worst halves I played in a Liverpool shirt.
"Then after 10 seconds of the second-half, I scored a cracker from outside the box, hit the crossbar and scored a goal for Liverpool.
“And he came to me and said ‘You were absolutely s**** in the first-half, but I love you’ and that’s Stevie G.”
Those rougher edges to his game became more apparent in his second year at Anfield, when affected personally by the death of his father and professionally by the arrival of new £20m centre forward Fernando Torres, his place in the side became more uncertain and his form dipped.
Now featuring more often on the right flank, Kuyt managed only three league goals all season but again showed the kind of temperament Benitez and the Kop were looking for with two of those Premier League strikes being from the penalty spot (one of them late into stoppage time) during the intense pressure of a Goodison derby as Liverpool recovered from a goal behind to snatch a memorable and morale-boosting win.
By this stage, Kuyt and his family had settled into life on Merseyside and it was apparent the principles he had been brought up with in Katwijk and developed in Rotterdam would help him endure this difficult period and convince the doubters he had what it took to succeed with Liverpool.
“I just try to work hard, sleep well, eat well and do my best. There’s no secret”, he once said.
“The first thing you’ve got to do as a footballer is give 100%, and if you do that in a match the good playing comes. My first objective is always to work 100% for the team and for the other players.
“They taught me that when I was growing up. The people in the village in Katwijk have had to work hard to make a living. Most of them were fishermen and my father was too. So maybe you could say I’m a typical Katwijk player.”
In an era increasingly littered with flash, showbiz-hungry footballers, the working class values Kuyt and his family lived by - his wife kept working in her job as a care home nurse until after the birth of their second child - chimed with those of many in his new adopted home and arguably bought him the understanding and time with demanding supporters that other less down-to-earth players may not have received.
His happy knack for crucial goals certainly played a big part as well. Although his goal tally dropped to 11 in all competitions in his second season, he again delivered at the business end of a Champions League campaign, notching the crucial first goal in the last 16 tie with Inter Milan, bagging a vital away-goal equaliser in the quarter-final first leg at Arsenal and then in the first leg of the semi final against Chelsea opening the scoring with a goal which perhaps more than any other in his Liverpool career summed up his perpetual endeavour
With the tie goalless shortly before half time, Kuyt delivered a cross from the right flank that was only half-cleared before joining Xabi Alonso in robbing Frank Lampard of possession on the edge of the box and racing into the area to prod Javier Mascherano's lob past Petr Cech to put Liverpool in front.
John Arne Riise’s late own goal ultimately proved fatal to the Reds’ hopes of reaching the Moscow final and another season of promise ended up without reward but Kuyt again showed he had the knack of delivering when Liverpool most needed it only a few months later when scoring the 119th minute winner against Standard Liege in the Champions League qualifying tie to take the Reds into the group stages just as a penalty shoot-out and potentially embarrassing and costly exit was looming.
Benitez again by this stage had looked to fine tune his frontline by bringing in Robbie Keane from Tottenham which again blocked any hopes Kuyt may have had over a return to a more central position but he typically just got on it with it contributing his best goals tally yet of 15 in 51 appearances as Liverpool mounted their most credible title challenge of the Premier League era, achieving a record points total of 86 and only being beaten twice all campaign but still falling four points short of Manchester United despite beating Sir Alex Ferguson’s side home and away.
It would prove to be the watershed moment of the Benitez era as, after four seasons of progress, the impact of the catastrophic Hicks and Gillett ownership and the inter-club politics it unleashed brought a severe downturn in results which saw a seventh place league finish and Benitez sacked in May 2010.
The next 18 months were one of the most tortuous in Liverpool history as the club skirted on the brink of bankruptcy with the appointment of former Fulham manager Roy Hodgson as Benitez’s successor a further indicator at how quickly a club recently fighting for the top prizes at home and abroad had fallen from grace.
Kuyt’s workhorse performances up and down the right flank came into their own during this period and were appreciated more than ever by supporters aghast at the sharp decline they were witnessing with the Dutchman being responsible for most of the few bright moments during an otherwise pretty dark period.
As well as a brave header which got 10-man Liverpool a precious derby win over Everton in February 2010, he became the first Red to score a hat-trick against Manchester United (from a combined distance of about six yards) in over 20 years the following season and in February 2012 scored a late Kop end winner to knock Ferguson’s side out of the FA Cup as Kenny Dalglish’s men eyed a domestic cup double.
Chelsea would deny them that at Wembley the following May but not before what would be the crowning glory of Kuyt’s LFC career, a League Cup final triumph over Cardiff City which saw the Dutchman shake off the unwanted tag he had gained as the longest-serving Liverpool player since Emlyn Hughes not to gain a winners’ medal.
With the club now on a firmer footing after being taken over by Fenway Sports Group and Kuyt now playing more of a bit part-role following the arrivals of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll to bolster the strikeforce, he came off the bench shortly before the end of the first period of extra time to replace Carroll with the game locked at 1-1 against the Championship side at Wembley and scored a quintessential Kuyt goal, reacting quickest after his own mis-hit shot which had rebounded back to him to steer home a shot while falling over.
Cardiff levelled to force penalties but again Kuyt’s nerveless and dependable character shone through in the shoot out, scoring Liverpool’s first successful kick after misses by Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam to steady the ship and minutes later the Dutchman was dancing round Wembley with his teammates as the club’s first silverware since shortly before his 2006 arrival was secured.
The 71st and final goal of his Liverpool career came the following month at Queens Park Rangers and he left the following June for Turkish club Fenerbahce having made 285 appearances for the club of varying quality but unparalleled commitment and effort.
After three seasons in Turkey which had seen his keep his place in the Dutch national side - the late, legendary Johan Cruyff saying in 2014 after his 100th appearance for Holland, “You’re blessed when you've got someone like him” - he returned to Feyenoord and enjoyed the perfect swan-song to his career in May 2017 when scoring a hat-trick against Heracles in the final match of the season to seal the club’s first league title in 18 years, retiring from football three days later.
It was a fitting conclusion for one of the most honest players of his generation who had won hearts and minds across his homeland and far beyond, with his second spell at Feyenoord also giving him the opportunity to show how his time on Merseyside had left its mark.
After the Dutch side had played against Liverpool’s fierce rivals Manchester United in the Europa League, Kuyt sent an emotional message to his old pal and skipper Steven Gerrard who had not long since left Anfield, explaining why the inevitable taunts he received from the Old Trafford faithful were in fact music to his eyes and a badge of honour he would wear with pride.
“I played for six years for Liverpool and it was the best time of my life”, Kuyt said.
“Last week we played against Manchester United and beat them 1-0 in Rotterdam but unfortunately lost 4-0 at Old Trafford but one thing happened during the game.
“60,000 supporters shouted against me, ‘You Scouse b******’, and normally when rival fans shout against you it’s not the best thing that can happen but actually it made me proud.
“It made me proud to be named a Scouser, an adopted Scouser, because for me Scousers are good people, hard-working people, committed people who never give up.”
That sense of pride was very much evident in Gerrard’s comments when he paid tribute to Kuyt when the Dutchman came back to Anfield to play in a Liverpool legends match shortly after his retirement.
"He scored very important goals and he was a very selfless player. He did a lot of dirty work and running for the team.
"Dirk was a teammate that you appreciated more than most because you knew in every training session and in every single game he would always give 110 per cent and that’s Dirk. That smile, that enthusiasm, that character that he showed, he had many great years here.
"I think how you remember Dirk Kuyt is someone who stepped up at important times and he was always in the right place at the right time.
"You never really remember him for fantastic goals but for important goals. That’s what Dirk should be remembered for."
