MAN UNITED SUFFER TRANSFER FATE THAT LIVERPOOL COULD NOT SILBE WITH £117M

Manchester United are enduring a miserable transfer window so far yet their failings will feel rather familiar to Liverpool. Liverpool have had some stinkers of transfer windows since the current system was first introduced back in 2002/03. Admittedly, they got off to a pretty woeful start with that first summer seeing them sign El Hadji-Diouf, Bruno Cheyrou, Salif Diao, Patrice Luzi and Alou Diarra for just short of £20m as Gerard Houllier ’s side started the campaign as Premier League title contenders but ended up failing to even qualify for the Champions League. Still, at least supporter backlash played a part in them pulling the plug on a £9m deal to sign controversial midfielder Lee Bowyer.

In hindsight, Rafa Benitez ’s final two summer windows have not aged well. Spending roughly £40m in each window, the Reds signed Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri, David N’Gog, Robbie Keane, Peter Gulacsi and Albert Riera in the summer of 2008 and Alberto Aquilani, Glen Johnson and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, while losing the services of Xabi Alonso, 12 months later. Read more »