This morning, I made a comment praising our recruitment team in the Luis Diaz thread, and it actually made me ponder this question:
what is our last mistake on the transfer market? Which incoming transfer can be considered a failure? I genuinely wasn't able to think of an answer straight away, which in itself is a very good sign.
Then I had a deeper look into our recent transfer history, and was even more impressed. I knew we were good, but our success rate is just unreal.
Some cynics might say 'It's because we never sign anyone', but I'll take quality over quantity every day.
I actually had to go back to our 2015-16 season with Benteke to answer my question.
7 years ago...
He cost us a lot of money, and absolutely didn't fit our tactics. Yes, we managed to recoup some money, but there's no doubt it was a bad transfer.
Some honourable mentions, and why I didn't go for them:
Davis: Never really played for us, but was bought for nothing, and we will make a decent profit on him.
Keïta: Some might argue he didn't deliver as much as we expected from him, but it's pretty clear the quality is there and it's only injuries that slowed him down.
Solanke: We didn't pay much for him and sold him for 20m. No complaints there.
Karius: It was a tough one. Truth is it was a toss up between him and Benteke. I didn't go for him because ultimately, he was bought for little money, and recruited as a number 2 with hopes he might grow into the nr. 1 position. His mistakes cost us a CL final but he also got us there. And he simply was thrown into a situation he probably wasn't ready for.
Your thoughts on this?
For reference, here are all our signings in the last 7 years.
21-22Konaté
Diaz
20-21Tsimikas
Thiago
Jota
Pitaluga
Gordon
Davies
Kabak (loan)
19-20van den Berg
Elliott
Adrián
Lonergan
Minamino
18-19Alisson
Keïta
Fabinho
Shaqiri
17-18van Dijk
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Salah
Robertson
Solanke
16-17Mané
Wijnaldum
Karius
Klavan
Matip
Manninger
15-16Benteke
Firmino
Clyne
Ings
Grujić
Gomez
Awoniyi
Bogdán
Milner
(To the forum staff: I didn't really want to start a new topic for this, but I wasn't sure where else to post it. If needed, please feel free to move this discussion to wherever you feel it would be best.)