A look at how Liverpool's other club-record transfers have fared in the Premier League era after Florian Wirtz was signed at £116m on Friday
Sport
Florian Wirtz is unveiled as a Liverpool player
Florian Wirtz is unveiled as a Liverpool player(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Florian Wirtz becomes the 10th player to break Liverpool's transfer record in the Premier League era. And the Reds are paying, inclusive of add-ons, a total of £112.4m more for the Germany international than the first player on that list in Phil Babb.
Spending big on a player is not always an indicator of imminent success, however. Liverpool have generally spent well over the last decade thanks to an exhaustive, no-stone-unturned approach in the recruitment department.
From an industry-leading analytics team through to thorough background and personality checks on those coming through the door, the people tasked with signing players have rarely put a foot wrong since the summer of 2015.
READ MORE: What Jurgen Klopp and Xabi Alonso said about Florian Wirtz speaks volumes after £116m Liverpool transferREAD MORE: Florian Wirtz sent emotional message after £116m Liverpool transfer - 'I don't want to write this'
But it hasn't always been that way at Anfield and there are some whose place in transfer history on Merseyside is more ignominious than others.
Here, the ECHO takes a look back at those players who broke the mould since the Premier League's 1992 inception and rated their efforts.
Phil Babb - £3.6m, 1994
Liverpool broke their club record by £700,000 in 1994 when Ireland international Phil Babb joined from Coventry City for £3.6m after he had handed in a formal transfer request at Highfield Road.
Article continues below
Brought in alongside £3.5m John Scales after starring at the 1994 World Cup for Jack Charlton's Ireland, Babb was supposed to transform the fortunes of the Reds' backline under Roy Evans.
"We've said we will go out to buy the best and we're committed to doing that," said Evans at the time. Immediately, Babb was asked about his prospects of following in the footsteps of legendary names like Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson and the defender insisted he was relaxed about being compared to such vaunted figures at the time.
"I don't feel there's any pressure on me," said Babb. They've always bought quality players and I feel I'm a quality player so I look forward to being here a long time."
Evans's 5-3-2 formation suited Babb and by the end of his first two terms at Anfield, he had played nearly 90 times for the Reds across all competitions that included an FA Cup that was won by Manchester United.
Babb was part of the team that won the Coca Cola Cup by beating Bolton Wanderers at Wembley in 1995 but that was the highlight for a centre-back who never quite justified the outlay in him at the time.
Babb, somewhat unfortunately, is perhaps best remembered for one particularly nasty collision with the goalpost at Anfield in a game against Chelsea. If you know, you know. Ouch.
Rating: Was not the missing piece of the defensive jigsaw 5/10.
Stan Collymore - £8.5m, 1995
Stan Collymore broke the British record when the Reds landed him from Nottingham Forest for £8.5m in the summer of 1995.
Collymore had established himself as one of the most dynamic strikers in the top flight before he joined the Reds, where he quickly struck up a promising partnership with Robbie Fowler.
Thirty-five goals in 81 appearances was a respectable return but he failed to hit the heights that had been envisioned when the Reds broke the bank for him.
Collymore told the ECHO this week: "When I get mentioned, a lot of Liverpool writers say: 'Ah we could have seen a lot more.' But I played 80 games and 51 goals involvements as they would now be termed.
"So 30-something goals over the two seasons and 16 direct assists for Robbie Fowler, so if you're looking at goal involvements and the mark of excellence is sort of one in every other game, 51 goal involvements in 80 ain't bad."
The emergence of Michael Owen meant Collymore only stayed two years, joining Aston Villa in 1997 for around £7m.
Rating: 'Collymore closing in' is an iconic moment but lack of silverware and relatively short career makes this a dud. 4/10.
Emile Heskey - £11m, 2000
It might sound strange a quarter of a century on but Emile Heskey arrived in March and cost a club-record fee of £11m to land him from Leicester City.
Back in those days, the transfer deadline only arrived later in the season, meaning the Reds were able to bring in the England international as the springtime arrived. An almost season-long transfer window now would be exhausting.
"I remember last season people were saying Liverpool couldn't attract the top stars any more," said Gerard Houllier. "This shows they were all wrong."
The powerful frontman scored 60 goals in 233 appearances and saw the best period of his time at Anfield arrive, like many others, in the 2000/2001 term when Houllier's side won a treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup before qualifying for the Champions League.
Twenty-two goals that term is proof of Heskey's Anfield zenith but that was the only time he registered more than double figures (14) in the league, which lays bare the absence of a prolific streak that is often a prerequisite to lead the line at Anfield.
Rating: Played a considerable part in a famous season but was not a natural goalscorer like so many others who've shone at Liverpool. 6/10.
Djibril Cisse - £14m, 2004
Djibril Cisse never got to play for the manager who signed him in Gerard Houllier and while Rafa Benitez did the diplomatic thing by suggesting he would have signed him anyway had he been Reds boss a year earlier, the French striker never quite justified the hype, the fee or the wait.
Electric pace was so often undercut by wasteful and panicked finishing and while a debut goal arrived at Tottenham in August 2004, the flamboyant and likable Frenchman is perhaps best remembered for a horrendous leg break during his time.
Arriving in a game at Blackburn just months into his first season, Cisse returned to action as the Reds chased Champions League glory later in the campaign and while he played a bit-part role in that eventual triumph, his big-money fee betrayed his status within the squad under Benitez.
A goal in a successful FA Cup final against West Ham United in 2006 will always be remembered, even if the game itself initially conjured images of Steven Gerrard's heroics at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Scored 19 goals in 79 appearances.
Rating: Leg break early on disrupted chances of success. A cult hero but didn't justify fee. 6/10.
Fernando Torres - £20m, 2007
It would be three years before Liverpool broke their transfer record once more, this time for Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid. The Spain international wasted little time hitting the ground running, scoring on his home debut in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in August 2007.
The electric Spaniard instantly struck up a rapport with Steven Gerrard and marked his first term on Merseyside with a remarkable return of 33 goals across all competitions. Eighty-one goals in 142 appearances is a hugely impressive record but the bare numbers do scant justice to just how adored the No.9 was by the Reds' supporters at the time.
The off-field decline and in-house fighting of the detested owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett contributed towards Torres' eventual defection to Chelsea in January 2011 for a fee of £50m. By then, the spate of hamstring injuries had started to dilute the contributions and Liverpool actually received a massive fee for a player who was on the slide.
At his best, though, Torres was a tour-de-force of a striker and one of the best in modern history. Lack of silverware and manner of exit counts against him.
Rating: They're gonna bounce in a minute. 9/10.
Andy Carroll - £35m, 2011
Luis Suarez at £20.8m was technically a club-record arrival that stood for only a few hours before Andy Carroll was signed the same day. Let's just say the Uruguay star was 10/10. To help assuage supporters bitterly disappointed at losing Torres, the emerging Andy Carroll was snared from Newcastle United for a record-setting £35m.
The powerful striker, at the time, looked like he was set to take the next steps towards international stardom but he never came close to replicating the form shown at his boyhood Newcastle when he joined on at Anfield. Certainly not on a consistent basis.
A blistering performance and two goals in March 2011 helped put Manchester City to the sword at home and his winning goal against Everton in an FA Cup semi-final will always be fondly remembered alongside a missile header to win a bizarre, wild game at Blackburn in 2012.
Carroll, though, was simply not up to it. Brendan Rodgers quickly found an exit path for his frontman when he arrived as Kenny Dalglish's successor and Carroll's place in history as a massive mistake by Liverpool remains.
Rating: Never come close to justifying his fee. Even at his best, he was unsuited. 3/10.
Mohamed Salah - £36m, 2017
Mercifully, Carroll's unwanted place in history fell when Mohamed Salah signed from Roma for £36m in the summer of 2017. The former Chelsea forward hadn't cut the mustard at Stamford Bridge and believed he had unfinished business in the Premier League having rebuilt his reputation in Serie A.
He wasn't kidding.
Salah is now third on the all-time list of top scorers at Anfield and having signed a two-year deal in April to take him up to a decade of service on Merseyside, the 'Egyptian King' might well fancy his chances of moving past Roger Hunt into second before he walks away. Thirty-five goals equals Hunt's haul of 280.
It's not just Salah's incredible goal haul that marks him down as one of the modern greats, though. He has played a starring role in a club that have, since 2019, won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, two League Cups, the FA Cup and a first-ever Club World Cup. Throw in a Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup into the mix and the medal collection is bulging.
The superlatives for Salah ran out years ago in truth and he is one of the true leaders of this Premier League title-winning squad. A legend in his own time.
Rating: One of the very best to ever play for Liverpool FC. 10/10.
Virgil van Dijk - £75m, 2018
Given Salah's love of seeing his name in the record books, he was likely disappointed to see his transfer fee eclipsed by the arrival of Virgil van Dijk in January 2018.
But like his Egyptian colleague, Van Dijk's fee has been proven to be a remarkably astute piece of business by the Reds. If there have been better centre-halves in Liverpool's history, it will be a short list indeed.
Almost overnight, Van Dijk's addition transformed Liverpool's fortunes. They were Champions League finalists within months, for the first time in 11 years, before winning it a year later. That 2019 triumph in Madrid was the catalyst for the haul that has followed since and Van Dijk can hold his own in the conversation of finest centre-backs ever in English football history. He's been that good.
Rating: You're kidding, right? 10/10.
Darwin Nunez - £85m, 2022
Seeing as this piece includes add-ons for fees, we shall add Darwin Nunez's name into the mix of history-making transfers at Anfield. The Uruguay striker signed for an initial £64m three years ago with £21m worth of add-ons taking the fee way past the £75m forked out for Van Dijk.
Nunez's virtues are there for all to see: pacy; strong; perpetual motion. Unfortunately, his flaws are just as evident and after scoring 15 and then 18 under Jurgen Klopp in his first two terms, this season has seen a regression under Arne Slot, with just seven across all competitions.
Article continues below
The highlight reel will be considerable but the collection of glaring misses won't be far behind such compilations for those looking on YouTube.
Nunez has always been something of a cult hero but it feels like this summer might be the end of the road for the former Benfica man at Anfield. That departure will open up the debate as to his true legacy.
Rating: While still a Liverpool player, he shouldn't be written off but there is work to be done to justify the fee.