It's not enough to buy good players, they have to be the right players (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

Liverpool's overall record in the transfer market during the Premier League era really doesn't make for pleasant reading. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been squandered in a vain attempt to re-establish the Reds as the major force they once were and that ineptitude in the transfer market is the single biggest reason for their failure to win a league title since 1990.

Graeme Souness set the ball rolling by blowing millions on Paul Stewart, Julian Dicks, Dean Saunders, Torben Piechnik and others. Poor signings led to the poor results that cost him his job. Roy Evans took over from the Scot but fared little better; buying the likes of Oyvind Leonhardsen, Phil Babb, Bjorn Tore Kvarme and Sean Dundee. Liverpool went close to the title under Evans but failure to add the players who could make the difference proved to be the downfall of the popular Scouser.

Next up was Gerard Houllier, who ultimately lost his job because El Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao and Bruno Cheyrou flopped spectacularly. Rafa Benitez enjoyed early success but mediocrity followed, with millions wasted on Robbie Keane, Alberto Aquilani, Andrea Dossena and others.

Yet among all the misses there were still plenty of hits. Souness signed Mark Wright and Rob Jones while Evans recruited Patrik Berger, Danny Murphy and Stan Collymore. Houllier's success was based on signings such as Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Didi Hamann, Gary McAllister and others, while Benitez can point to Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres as examples of spectacularly good signings he made. As for Roy Hodgson ... well, let's not talk about that.

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