Chiesa next? Liverpool’s FSG era late-window signings ranked as Suarez, Coutinho prop up horror list

Liverpool supporters should look away now as this abject 20-man list of late-window signings made under FSG features only six deals they can remember with pride.

Federico Chiesa’s seemingly imminent arrival at Anfield reeks of desperation for all parties. But he won’t have to do much to place himself in the top half of this list, which will make for a pretty miserable read for Reds supporters.

(Disclaimer: The only transfers included are the deals finalised by Liverpool during the final week of each transfer window since January 2011).

20) Arthur Melo (Juventus, loan)
What a disaster .

Signed on deadline day in the summer of 2022 amid Liverpool ‘s midfield crisis, Arthur arrived undercooked before he added to their issues. During his ill-fated loan spell, his four month lay-off saw the 28-year-old make just a single substitute appearance for the Premier League giants.

19) Ben Davies (Preston, loan)
To this day, I have no clue what was going through Liverpool minds when making this signing.

Another signing made in response to an injury crisis, Davies surely would not have believed his luck when Liverpool came calling for his signature after he had been no more than a solid operator for Preston in the Championship.

Currently playing in League One with Birmingham City, Davies would have been living the dream in training for Liverpool, but Jurgen Klopp did not trust him to do the real thing as he did not make a single competitive appearance before leaving. You’ll struggle to find a more pointless signing than this one.

READ: Federico Chiesa to Liverpool is a desperate transfer for everyone involved

18) Mario Balotelli (AC Milan, £16m)
The task of replacing Luis Suarez was never going to be easy and the enigmatic Balotelli never came close to reaching the extremely high bar set by the Uruguay international.

While Balotelli is always box-office and can be relied upon to provide a moment of madness, his performances from game to game were often erratic, to say the least.

Balotelli delivered far more positive moments during his rollercoaster spell at Man City than with Liverpool as he scored just once in 16 Premier League matches under Brendan Rodgers before leaving. He’s also the second-worst Italian Premier League signing to join from Serie A.

17) Tiago Ilori (Sporting Lisbon, £7m)
Liverpool saw enough from the former Portugal U21 international to pay £7m to acquire his services. But he managed just three appearances for the Reds and after three underwhelming loan spells elsewhere, they cut their losses as he was sold to Reading for £3.75m.

16) Samed Yesil (Bayer Leverkusen, £1m)
Further evidence here that Rodgers’ judgement of players should not be trusted. Yesil has dropped off the face of the earth after failing to break through at Anfield, recently having spells across Europe at nondescript lower-league sides.

I’m guessing he still insists on telling all his mates at the pub that his claim to fame is that he made two League Cup appearances for Liverpool in 2012 as that’s as good as it got for the once-million-pound striker.

15) Marcelo Pitaluga (Fluminense, £2m)
Marcelo who?

A quick Google search revealed the 21-year-old goalkeeper is still contracted with Liverpool, which was a surprise. Four years in, the 21-year-old’s most recent loan spell was in the League of Ireland Premier Division with St Patrick’s Athletic and that says a lot about his first-team prospects.

14) Sebastian Coates (Nacional, £7m)
Plucked from boyhood club Nacional by Liverpool as a teenager, Coates was held back by a serious knee injury before the Premier League giants offloaded him to Sunderland for £2m, where he endured a similarly sombre spell.

Since then, Coates has enjoyed a quite remarkable career resurgence with Sporting Lisbon and this version of the centre-back would have been a useful option for Liverpool.

13) Nuri Sahin (Real Madrid, loan)
Sahin – who made us all feel extremely old when he became Dortmund’s head coach earlier this summer – had a short but sweet loan spell with Liverpool. Three goals and two assists in 12 appearances was a good return, but his lack of appearances meant he could not be placed any higher.

12) Andy Carroll (Newcastle United, £35m)
Liverpool reinvested the £50m made from selling a past-it Fernando Torres to Chelsea to sign two strikers. One was brilliant and the other was Carroll.

In fairness, Carroll came up with a couple of clutch moments (in cup competitions especially), but the injury-plagued striker is still considered a flop as he didn’t do enough to justify his £35m price tag. He wasn’t Torres-Chelsea bad, but he was far from great.

MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Liverpool make Chiesa ‘decision’ as contract terms emerge with FSG ‘confident’ after ‘capitalising’
👉 Imminent Liverpool transfer ‘unleashes whirlwind in Barcelona’ over ‘betrayal’ as another deal is ruled out
👉 Liverpool: Slot ‘unconvinced’ by two Reds stars as FSG identify ‘three key midfield targets’

11) Taiwo Awoniyi (Imperial Soccer Academy, £400,000)
Awoniyi channelled his inner Hugo Rodallega as he fired Nottm Forest to safety in 2022/23 after returning to England for a second spell in the Premier League after being contracted to Liverpool as a youngster.

While he did not make a single senior appearance for Liverpool, Awoniyi – unlike previous entries on this list – left for a handy profit as he was sold to Union Berlin for £6.5m.

10) Danny Ward (Wrexham, £100,000)
Like Awoniyi, Ward was sold for a profit after doing nothing of note for Liverpool.

The Reds did bloody well to get £12.5m for the Wales goalkeeper, who made just three appearances for the club before joining Leicester City.

9) Victor Moses (Chelsea, loan)
Before his unexpected transformation into a world-beater at right wing-back under Antonio Conte at Chelsea , Moses was a frustrating winger who often lacked an end product. Liverpool only used him sparingly during his season-long loan spell as Raheem Sterling bursting onto the scene left him down the pecking order en route to Steven Gerrard’s slip (one of the worst mistakes leading to a goal of all time).

8) Bobby Clark (Newcastle United, £1.5m)
Clark was one of Klopp’s kids who made a decent impact as Liverpool were ravaged by injuries last season.

FSG’s decision to green light with former assistant Pep Lijnders with RB Leipzig for £10m was a contentious one, but they at least have a matching-rights agreement to re-sign him if he does shine in Austria.

7) Craig Bellamy (Manchester City, free transfer)
There were five years between Bellamy’s two seasons at Liverpool, which were spread across two different spells. The latter came via a free transfer from Man City and he spent the 2011/12 campaign as a useful squad player before ending his career at Cardiff City.

READ: How Arne Slot’s Liverpool can win the Premier League in ‘funny’ outcome for Tottenham

6) Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich, £34m)
Now with that dross out of the way, it’s time for some positivity and we start with Liverpool’s most recent permanent signing.

Gravenberch was comfortably the fourth-best of the quartet of midfield signings made by Liverpool last season. But their failure to land Martin Zubimendi ( who had one key reason for snubbing the club ) has boosted the Dutchman as he looks set to play a prominent role this term in a deeper role under new head coach Arne Slot.

5) Mamadou Sakho (PSG, £18m)
The former PSG star’s lack of discipline got the better of him on a couple of occasions as a Liverpool player, but he was sensational during their title challenge season in 2013/14 and latterly impressed in patches under Klopp before being phased out by the German boss.

4) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal, £35m)
Many scoffed at Liverpool paying £35m to sign Oxlade-Chamberlain as his poor injury record at Arsenal was a cause for concern.

Despite this, he followed many of the Klopp-era signings in bettering themselves under his tutelage and was a vital cog in Liverpool’s ever-impressive midfield when he was fully fit.

3) Luis Diaz (Porto, £35m)
Breathtaking at his best but incredibly frustrating when he’s in a wasteful mood, Diaz has plenty to prove this season but he’s got off to a great start as one of the go-to starters in Slot’s front three.

Those transfer links with Manchester City were fun while they lasted , but Diaz’s long-term future appears to be with Liverpool, so Cody Gakpo (and Chiesa, perhaps) appear set for a spell as a benchwarmer unless the Colombian’s form suddenly declines.

MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Liverpool make Chiesa ‘decision’ as contract terms emerge with FSG ‘confident’ after ‘capitalising’
👉 Imminent Liverpool transfer ‘unleashes whirlwind in Barcelona’ over ‘betrayal’ as another deal is ruled out
👉 Liverpool: Slot ‘unconvinced’ by two Reds stars as FSG identify ‘three key midfield targets’

2) Philippe Coutinho (Inter Milan, £8.5m)
An unbelievable find. Coutinho quickly proved to be a snip for Liverpool as he was a joy to watch for most of his time at Anfield.

Coutinho’s stellar performances for Liverpool over multiple seasons were enough for him to rank highly on this list. But Barcelona paying £105m (plus huge add-ons) to sign him in 2017 made his case even stronger.

There’s no wonder Barcelona are strapped for cash after Liverpool were a huge beneficiary of their willingness to spend such a ludicrous fee on a player who sadly was never the same after leaving Anfield.

1) Luis Suarez (Ajax, £22.8m)
There’s no doubt that Suarez has his faults and was in the headlines for the wrong reasons too many times while he played for Liverpool.

But solely as a footballer, the Uruguayan was special and is rightly regarded as one of the best strikers in Premier League history.

During his spell at Liverpool, he managed 83 goals in 133 appearances and this preceded an even more prolific stint at Barcelona. So while Carroll struggled, Suarez more than made up for it as he took on the mantle left by Torres and even outshone the Spaniard.