REDS MAKING RIGHT MOVE FOR RM212M SALAH?
Liverpool have spent RM4.9b but yet to win league title
LIVERPOOL’S desperation to end their 27-year league title hoodoo has been laid bare by the impending arrival of Roma winger Mohamed Salah, who is set to become the club's record signing.
A record that has stood since Andy Carroll's sensational, if illfated, £35m (RM190m) move on January deadline day in 2011 is set to come crashing down as Jurgen Klopp targets an assault on the Premier League.
An early raid on the transfer market and a big-money signing holding aloft a club scarf is usually enough to prompt any Red to proclaim “this year is our year”.
It has been ever thus since a 2-1 win over QPR at Anfield on April 28, 1990 signalled Liverpool's 18th and last league title.
The dawn of the Premier League in 1992 re-defined the landscape of English football, and a fanbase brought up on domination has now become one used to limping behind the best.
The club has spent heavily in the past 25 years to try and rectify that decline, to the tune of £909.981million to be precise, with only sporadic success.
Salah's arrival at £39m (RM212m) will take the total just shy of £950m, and they are expected to break the £1 billion mark later this summer
A £1m swoop for goalkeeper David James from Watford in 1992 set the ball rolling, a summer when they spent £4.7m on new talent.
Club legend Graeme Souness proved ill-equipped to turn around the fortunes of a fading team, and it was not until the arrival of Roy Evans in 1994 that the Reds turned into a force again,
In 1995 he splashed out £8.5m on Stan Collymore. Scoring the winning goal in a memorable 4-3 win over Newcastle proved the height of his achievements in two seasons at Anfield.
A £4.2m move for Paul Ince in 1997 was meant to toughen up the midfield and instill a winning mentality. But he was quickly discarded as Gerard Houllier adopted a continental approach upon his appointment in 1998.
But the Frenchman bought big on British talent, snapping up Emile Heskey for a record £11m ahead of a sensational £6m swoop for Everton's Nick Barmby.
Houllier's early dealings proved shrewd; £2.5m for Sami Hyypia and the free acquisitions of Gary McAllister, Markus Babbel and Jari Litmanen helped Liverpool to a cup treble in 2001 and a second-place finish in 2002.
With just one step left to take Liverpool floundered, and disastrous moves for £10m El-Hadji Diouf and £4.7m Salif Diao were the beginning of the end.
Rafa Benitez's first moves were inspired with the recruitment of Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia for a combined £16.7m vital to the 2005 Champions League win.
Fernando Torres' £20.2m arrival in 2007 saw Liverpool emerge as challengers again, but as the funds dried up during the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett the Reds tailed away once more.
Benitez could not get to grips with the £19m Robbie Keane while Alberto Aquilani at £17.1m proved an ineffectual replacement for Alonso.
Fenway Sport Group brought Liverpool some much needed financial muscle, though the mindboggling move for Carroll proved rash. Luis Suarez was a bonafide hit at just £22.8m but Kenny Dalsummer glish spent poorly in the of 2011.
FSG reined it in under Brendan Rodgers, focusing on untapped, upcoming talent. A £20m outlay in January 2013 for Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho looks better the longer time goes on.
But the last time the Reds finished in the Champions League places in 2014, a £116.85million raid of the transfer market saw them drop back down to sixth.
Big-money moves have not guaranteed success for Liverpool in the Premier League era, you need only ask Evans, Houllier, Benitez, Dalglish and Rodgers.
After the success of his first summer window, Klopp will hope his new record signing can hit the ground running come August. Daily Mail