Not sure about Pool mate, that's revisionist, Lovren anyone? and it took them an extra year to get VVD in which probably cost them that year (quite sure you can dig out a few others), what they have done is be willing to overpay if they believe it's the right person
Re our 7, interesting now
- Paulinho went on to play for fudging Barca
- Eriksen-sen-sen was a total success despite the last season
- Lamela has been held back by his injuries but fair to say we have got 25M worth for him
- Chadli for 7M probably sits in the success bracket as well, had a couple of decent seasons for us and we made a profit
- Capoue is a decent midfielder, was cleared out more on the "old guard" group with Poch
- Vlad was mediocre but played a couple of seasons as well
So in the 7, really only Soldado was a disaster ...
Lovren predates Klopp. I'm talking about the players he has bought in.
Mane, Winjaldum, Karius, Matip, VVD, Sala, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robertson, Solanke, Allison, Keita, Fabinho, Shaqiri.
Those are his purchases. That is an insane success rate. It is their current first choice keeper, first choice CB pairing, first choice LB, first choice CM and 2/3 of their front three. It also includes a large number of his most important squad players.
Only Karius was a flop there. Solanke also kind of a flop but he was average, bought in for a free transfer and sold a couple of seasons later for £20 million.
As for your assessment of the seven, I would have to strongly disagree. Even if Eriksen walks onto the pitch, takes a massive brick in the centre, tells the fans to fudge off, wipes his ass with the shirt and then announces he's leaving on a free to Arsenal this summer, he would still have been a huge success for £13 million. Pound for pound one of our best transfers in the last few decades imo.
-What Paulinho went on to do is frankly irrelevent to what he did at Spurs. Its like if we bought Bebe or Kleberson and justified it by saying well they -played for Man Utd, they must have been good. He was not a good player for us and was rightly sold on.
-I could not have been more excited when we bought Lamela. The injuries aren't his fault and he hasn't been a total flop but he's played an average of 30 games a season for us over his 6 seasons here. That is crap.
-Chadli, Vlad and Capoue were average, made their money back but vitally, considering we're a football club and not an accounting firm, did not actually improve the team in the slightest. I'm not saying they flopped. But we did not spend the money wisely.
At least 7 of those Liverpool purchases have actively improved the starting eleven and 3-4 of the others significantly improved the squad.
It took them an extra year to get in VVD but you're agreeing with what I'm saying. They've identified the players they want and while they've picked up incredible deals (Robertson for £7 million, Matip for free), they've not been afraid to spend perhaps slightly more than what might be considered the 'market value' if they really feel it will improve the team, in VVD, Allison and even AOC. The whole picture has been important to getting them to the ridiculous position they're in now.