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

Emile Heskey// Leicester City// £11,000,000

Gerard Houllier took a risk by spending a club-record £11 million on Emile Heskey, who he described as an ‘unfinished product.’ The Englishman joined mid-season in March and had trouble adjusting to life at Liverpool.

He stated his problems with homesickness in his first six months at the club, which even resulted in him “lying on the floor and crying.”

Fortunately, Heskey would quickly turn his fortune around in his first full season with the Reds. He scored a respectable 22 goals in all competitions as he helped Liverpool win the League, FA, and UEFA cup treble.  The Englishman also played an important role in the UEFA Super Cup and Charity Shield victories that followed the treble.

The English forward would fail to replicate this impressive goal-scoring form in his later seasons with the club. His best scoring tally following his 22-goal year would be an ordinary 14. His poor form in front of the net would lead to him being pushed into deeper roles and even on the wing.

Heskey went on to have 223 appearances for Liverpool, netting 60 goals. After four full seasons, he was sold off to Birmingham for £6.25 million.

Rating: 6.5/10. Words by Minh Nguyen.

Markus Babbel // Bayern Munich // Free

Markus Babbel turned down the chance to join Real Madrid for a move to Anfield, and almost instantly showed the quality that you’d expect of a Madrid target.

He played 60 games in his first campaign, that famous 2000-2001 campaign, as his excellent fitness and technical skills allowed him to boss the right-hand flank.

On the face of this, this move was excellent. But it’s hard to judge Babbel properly because he was, tragically, stripped off his best years at Liverpool by Guillan-Barre syndrome. Despite recovering, the German was never the same again.

He tried to get back to where he was in 2001, and managed to start four games in five towards the end of the year, but fell out with the manager and a curious lack of discipline crept into his game as the defender got sent off twice for the reserves.

His low point came when Babbel was substituted off after 39 minutes in a League Cup game against Aston Villa. So, after 60 appearances in his first season followed by 13 in his next two and Babbel left for Blackburn Rovers and then back to Germany.

Rating: 7/10