5 most embarrassing Liverpool transfer debacles of all time
By David Gate
No.2: Frank Worthington
You might think these transfer debacles are a recent phenomena. The influx of billions of pounds into the Premier League, greedy agents and diva players certainly make signing a new player infinitely more complicated than generations past.
However even when deals were done by owners at the pub, written on a napkin, Liverpool were setting the future trend of comedy transfer failings.
Frank Worthington was one of the best players in England in the summer of 1972. The Huddersfield Town forward had been banging in the goals and Bill Shankly wanted to go back to his former club to bring their top striker to Anfield.
The transfer was all set to go through when Worthington failed the medical – initially reported for high blood pressure. As it turned out he actually had a sexually transmitted infection (STI). The transfer was put on hold for a week.
Rather than try to clear his body of the infection, Worthington went on a bender to Majorca in Spain. Unsurprisingly he came back with the infection still in place. He went to Leicester that summer instead where he scored 72 goals in 5 seasons for the Foxes.