Football Special Report: Liverpool Football Club’s Most Disappointing signings (Part 3)
Article Continued from Part 2.
Robbie Keane’s failed tenure at Anfield was blamed on Torres, Rafa Benitez and even Rick Parry.
Robbie Keane’s failed tenure at Anfield may have been a better one if Gareth Barry was signed to the Reds but in the end, Barry backed out of the deal and Robbie Keane was left as an unwanted and unneeded player.
After another six months, this player was sold off to Tottenham Hotspurs and after only scoring seven goals from twenty eight games in his Liverpool spell.
Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell is the thirty two year old Australian that currently plays for Galatasary S.K that is one of the leading football clubs in Turkey and has the Turkish league title.
Under the reins of Gerard Houlljer, the Reds had been lacking a key winger and that addition finally was believed to have come when Harry Kewell was signed to them in 2003.
He is considered to be an exemplary winger, with amazing pace and had the ability to beat his opponents and add to the score of the club in the league.
Harry Kewell was from Leeds United and had been a part of their team since 1996 and came from Australia as a fourteen year old in an exchange program for gifted footballers.
This player had speed, flair and the skills to create chances on the field and when Leeds United was facing their off-field problem, this transfer seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for Liverpool.
Gerard Houlljer came in and quickly made the deal; the player was brought in for a five million pound transfer deal and was given the number seven shirt.
The transfer deal was also a very controversial one as it was believed that the two million from the five million pound deal went to the player’s unregistered agent to make sure that Harry Kewell ended up in Anfield.
With only a few games in Liverpool it was very clear that he was not doing a good job, also as Kewell was a left winger, he was constantly being played as a right winger.
There was a definite lack of balance in the team but even though the initial few months with decent goal scoring records, the problems began shortly afterwards. Harry Kewell scored eleven goals from forty nine appearances in the first season playing with
the Reds.
Then the player started getting injured repeatedly and this off time took its toll on the player. Soon afterwards, when he returned from his injuries then he only seemed to get worse, Kewell made a hundred and thirty nine appearances with playing almost
twenty eight matches per season.
Except for the first season, the player played only around twenty two matches per season, and played ninety matches in four seasons and from these appearances only netted five goals.
The fans did get frustrated with the player as he once came back from an injury after weeks of being benched, he played a match in Istanbul which was the UEFA Champions league final and then had to be sent off as he got inured yet again in the twenty third
minute of play.
Incidents like this repeated themselves with the player and this resulted in almost no play time in the 2006-07 season. He did not do much again in Liverpool, and his contract expired in 2008 and he left both Liverpool and the English Premier League.
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