Having managed a Club for 6 years, a Manager is bound to leave a legacy. Rafa Benitez was much revered in his time at Liverpool, and many were sad at his departure. For those of you that love statistics or maybe are curious of the recent past, here are some facts and figures of the Benitez era.
The below is a list of players brought in by Rafa during this reign:
1. Josemi – Cost: £2m (Malaga, July 2004)
2. Xabi Alonso – Cost: £10.5m (Real Sociedad, August 2004)
3. Antonio Nunez – Cost: £1.5m part of Michael Owen deal (Real Madrid, August 2004)
4. Luis Garcia – Cost: £6m (Barcelona, August 2004)
5. Fernando Morientes – Cost: £6.3m (Real Madrid, January 2005)
6. Scott Carson – Cost: £1m (Leeds United, January 2005)
7. Mauricio Pellegrino – Cost: Free (Valencia, January 2005)
8. Peter Crouch – Cost: £7m (Southampton, June 2005)
9. Pepe Reina – Cost: £6m (Villarreal, June 2005)
10. Mohamed Sissoko – Cost: £5.6m (Auxerre, June 2005)
11. Antonio Barragan – Cost: Free (Sevilla, July 2005)
12. Bolo Zenden – Cost: Free (Middlesbrough, July 2005)
13. Godwin Antwi – Cost: Free (Real Zaragoza, August 2005)
14. Besian Idrizaj – Cost: Free (LASK Linz, August 2005)
15. Jack Hobbs – Cost: £750,000 (Lincoln City, August 2005)
16. Miki Roque – Cost: Free (Lleida, August 2005)
17. Paul Anderson – Cost: Swap deal with John Welsh (Hull City, November 2005)
18. Robbie Fowler – Cost: Free (Manchester City, January 2006)
19. Jan Kromkamp – Cost: Swap deal with Josemi (Villarreal, January 2006)
20. Ryan Crowther – Cost: Free (Stockport County, January 2006)
21. Daniel Agger – Cost: £5.8m (Brondby, January 2006)
22. David Martin – Cost: £250,000 (MK Dons, January 2006)
23. Craig Bellamy – Cost: £6m (Blackburn, June 2006)
24. Mark Gonzalez – Cost: £1.5m (Albacete, July 2006)
25. Gabriel Paletta – Cost: £2m (Banfield, July 2006)
26. Fabio Aurelio – Cost: Free (Valencia, July 2006)
27. Martin Hansen – Cost: Free (Brondby, August 2006)
28. Dirk Kuyt – Cost: £9m (Feyenoord, August 2006)
29. Nabil El Zhar – Cost: Free (Saint-Etienne, October 2006)
30. Astrit Ajdarevic – Cost: Free (Falkensberg, December 2006)
31. Alvaro Arbeloa – Cost: £3m (Deportivo La Coruna, January 2007)
32. Alex Cooper – Cost: £100,000 (Ross County, January 2007)
33. Jordy Brouwer – Cost: Undisclosed (Ajax, January 2007)
34. Francisco Duran – Cost: Undisclosed (Malaga, January 2007)
35. Ronald Huth – Cost: Undisclosed (Tacuary, January 2007)
36. Daniele Padelli – Cost: Loan (Sampdoria, January 2007)
37. Javier Mascherano – Cost: £18m (Unattached, February 2007)
38. Jermaine Pennant – Cost: £6.7m (Birmingham, June 2007)
39. Yossi Benayoun – Cost: £5m (West Ham, June 2007)
40. Lucas – Cost: £6m (Gremio, June 2007)
41. Andras Simon – Cost: Undisclosed (MTK Hungeria, June 2007)
42. Dean Bouzanis – Cost: Undisclosed (New South Wales, June 2007)
43. Krisztian Nemeth – Cost: Undisclosed (MTK Hungeria, June 2007)
44. Ryan Babel – Cost: £11.5m (Ajax, July 2007)
45. Daniel Pacheco – Cost: Undisclosed (Barcelona, June 2007)
46. Fernando Torres – Cost: £20m (Atletico Madrid, July 2007)
47. Andriy Voronin – Cost: Free (Bayer Leverkusen, July 2007)
48. Sebastian Leto – Cost: £1.85m (Lanus, August 2007)
49. Gary Stevens – Cost: Free (Ross County, August 2007)
50. Mikel San Jose Dominguez – Cost: Undisclosed (Athletic Bilbao, August 2007)
51. Daniel Sanchez Ayala – Cost: Free (Sevilla Atletico, August 2007)
52. Gerardo Bruna – Cost: Free (Real Madrid, August 2007)
53. David Amoo – Cost: Free (Millwall, August 2007)
54. Damien Plessis – Cost: Free (Lyon, August 2007)
55. Emiliano Insua – Cost: Swap deal with Palletta (Boca Juniors, August 2007)
56. Charles Itandje – Cost: Free (RC Lens, August 2007)
57. Lauri Dalla Valle – Cost: Free (JIPPO, November 2007)
58. Martin Skrtel – Cost: £6m (Zenit St Petersburg January, 2008)
59. Andrea Dossena – Cost: £7m (Udiense, June 2008)
60. Vincent Weijl – Cost: Free (AZ Alkmaar, June 2008)
61. Vitor Coutinho Flora – Cost: Free (June, 2008)
62. Robbie Keane – Cost: £19m (Tottenham, July 2008)
63. Diego Cavalieri – Cost: £3m (Palmeiras, July 2008)
64. Nikola Saric – Cost: £500,000 (Herfolge, July 2008)
65. Emmanuel Mendy – Cost: Free (Murcia, July 2008)
66. David Ngog – Cost: £1.5m (Paris St Germain, July 2008)
67. Philipp Degen – Cost: Free (Borussia Dortmund, July 2008)
68. Peter Gulacsi – Cost: Free (MTK Hungaria, August 2008)
69. Zsolt Poloskei – Cost: Loan (MTK Hungaria, August 2008)
70. Albert Riera – Cost: £8m (Espanyol, August 2008)
71. Christopher Buchtmann – Cost: Free (Borussia Dortmund, August 2008)
72. Victor Palsson – Cost: £250,000 (Aarhus, January 2009)
73. Glen Johnson – Cost: £18m (Portsmouth, June 2009)
74. Chris Mavinga – Cost: Undisclosed (Paris St Germain, July 2009)
75. Sotirios Kyrgiakos – Cost: £2m (AEK Athens, August 2009)
76. Alberto Aquilani – Cost: £20m (Roma, August 2009)
77. Maxi Rodriguez – Cost: Free (Atletico Madrid, January 2010)
The players listed in Bold are currently Liverpool players. Bold Italics indicates they are still Reds but out on loan.
Here are some curiosities:
– Nine players are still playing for the Reds, one (Mendy) still with the reserves.
– Four are on loan.
– Eight have been sold since Kenny Dalglish took over in January 2011.
– The second official language at the Club remains Spanish with Reina, Enrique, Suarez, Maxi, Suso and latest (soon to be announced arrival) Coates all spanish speakers, with Lucas Leiva also comfortable with the language.
– Fourteen players from the first team are eligible to play for England; that stat taking a definite boost since Kenny took charge.
One season on from his departure, the legacy left behind by Rafa remains. Some will say he spent wisely, others say he spent too much. Statistic will say that the Reds made a loss exceeding Stg 100 million during his 5 year reign as Manager with players coming and being shipped back out. Figures also suggest that Arsenal made a profit in the same period, but did not land a single ounce of silverware!
Hope that was not too boring!