Gérard Houllier’s 40 Liverpool signings ranked and rated – who’s the worst?

Nicolas Anelka// Paris St Germain// Loan

Nicholas Anelka was brought in on a loan from PSG for the second half of the 2001-02 season. In his short spell with the club, Anelka made a good impression as he managed to score important goals against Everton, Fulham, and Blackburn as the Reds pushed to a 2nd place finish.

During the loan, the Frenchman expressed his desire for a permanent move. He seemed to enjoy the football he was playing and he fit right into the culture of the club. Anelka even believed he played the best football of his career with the Reds.

Despite the productive loan spell, Gerard Houllier made the questionable move of not re-signing the forward to a permanent deal, instead opting for El-Hadji Diouf. Many looked back at this moment as the turning point in Houllier’s managerial career at the club as Anelka went on to have a prosperous career, while the same can’t be said for Diouf.

Rating: 6/10. Words by Minh Nguyen.

Vladimir Smicer // Lens // £3,750,000

After doing really well in France in Lens, Liverpool thought ‘I’ll have a bit of that’ and signed Vladimir Smicer in a transfer that kinda worked out, kinda didn’t.

He wasn’t helped by injuries he kept on picking up, but he still scored a goal and a penalty in the Champions League final in Milan as well as making 184 appearances in his six years at Anfield.

However, 74 of those were as a substitute and he only played 90 minutes 27 times out of all of those. The goals never really flowed though, with just 19 in total, and there was a period were Houllier sat him on the bench for 11 games in a row without making an appearance.

Smicer was a bit up and down, a bit inconsistent and just as the manager changed he picked up another bad injury and ruined his chance at a fresh start at Benitez.

Rating: 6/10