With Jurgen Klopp calling time on his Liverpool career, we’re taking a look at all of his senior signings and ranking them from worst to best!
It has been comfortably the greatest era of the club’s recent history, and lots of that success can be put down to the smart decisions made in the transfer market.
The recruitment team have rarely missed during the last nine years, bringing in some of the best players Anfield has ever seen in relative bargain deals.
Naturally, there have been some acquisitions who failed to live up to expectation. Fortunately, those have been few and far between.
Here, we’ve attempted to rank all 34 of the manager’s signings to have made a senior appearance, factoring in their impact as well as value for money.
Let us know if in the comments if you’d make any changes!
34. Loris Karius
It might be harsh, but somebody had to take this spot and the course of European history may have been altered had someone else been between the sticks in Kyiv.
33. Arthur
A player with a big reputation in Europe, but we were unfortunately restricted to seeing just 13 minutes of what he could offer.
32. Ozan Kabak
He had potential, but was signed due to necessity amid an injury crisis at the back in 2020/21.
31. Steven Caulker
A surprise signing that was made even more surprising by his cameos up front.
30. Calvin Ramsay
Has plenty of potential, but a number of blocks in the way at right-back.
29. Marko Grujic
He arrived at the club with a solid reputation, but failed to make his way into a packed midfield.
28. Sepp Van den Berg
A talented centre-back with plenty to prove, but whether he gets himself a place in the squad after his latest loan at Mainz remains to be seen.
27. Dominic Solanke
Things are going great for Solanke now at Bournemouth, but the forward only registered one goal for the Reds.
26. Ragnar Klavan
A hugely popular figure in the stands, not least for his dramatic last-gasp winner on New Year’s Day at Turf Moor.
25. Fabio Carvalho
Carvalho made a relative bright start in his first season, but first-team opportunities faded after Christmas and he has since been sent on two loan moves after an unsuccessful stint at RB Leipzig.
24. Naby Keita
It was a move that had plenty of potential, but pound-for-pound it was comfortably the least successful of the big-money moves in this era.
23. Adrian
Often remembered for that calamitous display against Atletico Madrid, but I’d prefer to focus on his heroics in the Super Cup instead.
22. Ryan Gravenberch
It’s early to judge. He has shown glimpses of brilliance but could do with showing more indications that he has what it takes to fit into a Liverpool midfield.
Clearly a talented player, hopefully more to come.
21. Takumi Minamino
Signed after outshining Erling Haaland at Anfield for Red Bull Salzburg, his highlight was the dramatic late equaliser en route to dumping Leicester out of the League Cup in 2021.
Minamino played 24 times in the quadruple chase that came that season, more than you might think.
20. Kostas Tsimikas
He scored the winning penalty in an FA Cup final, enough said.
19. Wataru Endo
Most fans had no idea what they were getting when the Japan captain arrived from Stuttgart, but he’s gone on to cement himself as a reliable figure in midfield.
18. Xherdan Shaqiri
A hugely likeable character and responsible for the goals that consigned Jose Mourinho to the sack at Man United.
Also started in the famous 4-0 victory over Barcelona at Anfield.
17. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
It was a tale of what might have been for Oxlade-Chamberlain, but truthfully, it took Liverpool until Klopp’s final season to be able to replace his goals from midfield.
16. Cody Gakpo
The brace in the 7-0 thrashing was worth the majority of his £37 million fee alone, but he unquestionably has the potential to go on to do plenty more great things in the coming years.
15. Darwin Nunez
In five years’ time Nunez could find himself at the very top of this list while also being capable of sliding down it.
That perhaps says it all about our No. 9!
14. Dominik Szoboszlai
There haven’t been many introductions to Anfield quite like Szoboszlai’s in the early weeks of his debut season.
Comparisons to Steven Gerrard were the first signs Liverpool had caught a big one, and though his following months were quieter, it will be a joy to see what comes next.
13. Thiago
Possibly the hardest player to place given that he is one of the best midfielders we have seen while simultaneously only being able to showcase it for one full season.
The £20 million fee feels reasonable for a player of his calibre. Watching football should be about enjoyment and there are few easier on the eye than Thiago in full flow.
12. Luis Diaz
Liverpool have tended to get it right when they go big on a January move, and Diaz was no exception.
His role in the unlikely quadruple push of 2021/22 cannot be underestimated, he was the injection of fresh flamboyancy that the squad needed at just the right moment.
11. Ibrahima Konate
Konate has always had the makings of a world-class centre-back, but the Frenchman has truly come into his own alongside the skipper.
He has been a colossus at the back and when fit looks every inch the player fans hoped we were getting, £36 million could prove to be a snip.
10. Alexis Mac Allister
Mac Allister was the first of four midfield incomings in the summer of 2023 and has adapted brilliantly to what has been asked of him.
The World Cup winner looked the real deal from the off and his performances in his somewhat unfavoured No. 6 position were more than admirable.
9. Diogo Jota
He has had a frustrating time with injuries, but Jota has also proven himself to be one of the best natural finishers Anfield has seen in modern times.
The Portuguese forward began his time under Klopp in electric goalscoring form, and has been equally, if not more impressive, in the manager’s farewell campaign.
8. Gini Wijnaldum
An archetypal Klopp player, in the best possible way.
While the squad fell to pieces through injury, Wijnaldum continued to run his legs off in the title defence of 2020/21 before he was allowed to leave for PSG on a free transfer.
7. Joel Matip
As free transfers go, this might be as good as it gets.
Injuries have ultimately cost him a place further up this list, and it may cruelly be the way he signs off his time at Anfield having sustained an ACL blow back in December.
6. Fabinho
His Liverpool career ended with something of a whimper, but it shouldn’t be forgotten just how much of a pivotal role Fabinho played in a golden period for the club.
Aptly named “the lighthouse” by assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders, the Brazilian made 219 appearances after cheering up supporters just days after defeat in Kyiv back in 2018.
5. Sadio Mane
A genuinely breathtaking player at his best.
Mane was the first transformative signing of the Klopp era and helped set Liverpool on the path that facilitated the incredible signings that followed him.
There is an argument that he was Liverpool’s best player during the record-breaking title win in 2019/20, which is no mean feat in what was one of the club’s greatest-ever sides.
4. Andy Robertson
We signed possibly our best-ever left-back for £8 million. Enough said.
The trajectory of his time on Merseyside has aligned almost perfectly with the team’s success on the pitch, and he has all of the medals to show for it.
A model professional on the pitch and one of the good guys off it. My favourite player of the Klopp era, and that’s saying something.
3. Virgil van Dijk
There aren’t many footballers who can walk straight through the door and immediately strike you as a future Liverpool captain.
Van Dijk transformed Liverpool from day one, getting his Anfield career off to the perfect start with a winning goal in the Merseyside derby.
The greatest compliment you can give is that the £75 million fee that was initially mocked became very quickly forgotten about.
He might just be the greatest January signing of all time.
2. Alisson
When you break the world record for a goalkeeper signing you need to go out and get the best one, and that’s exactly what Liverpool did.
The word ‘game-changer’ has been attached to a number of Klopp signings, but there isn’t a player who fits the description quite like Alisson.
Liverpool reached the 2018 Champions League final ahead of schedule and it became apparent that a top-level goalkeeper was thing that was required to take the next leap.
Alisson has gone on to keep 111 clean sheets across his 261 appearances between the sticks, and was a huge factor in the Reds becoming kings of Europe just 12 months later.
1. Mohamed Salah
Splitting the top three was almost impossible, but the fact he arrived for a fraction of the price means the Egyptian King just edges it.
We might never see a player like him again. A man born to score goals even when those around him aren’t at the races.
He has chalked up a frankly ludicrous 211 goals in 347 appearances and broken countless records along the way.
If he sees out his career at Liverpool, there is every chance he could leapfrog Roger Hunt as the club’s second-highest scorer of all time – do you know how ridiculous that is?
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