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

Anthony Le Tallec // Le Havre // £1,500,000

Liverpool thought they’d got a new gem when they brought Anthony Le Tallec from Le Havre, but the youngster rarely featured, hardly ever scored and was sold after a handful of loan appearances.

It wouldn’t be right to say he was a worse signing than Diouf – nobody deserves to be placed in that bracket – and bringing in youngsters isn’t an exact science. But he still must be put at this section of the piece because of his lack of impact.

Between 2003-2006, Le Tallec made 32 appearances and scored just once. Loan spells at Saint-Etienne, Sunderland, Sochaux and Le Mans led to a permanent move to Le Mans in 2008.

Thus ended a pretty forgettable period of time for the Frenchman.

Rating: 3/10

Florent Sinama-Pongolle // Le Havre // £1,500,000

Florent Sinama-Pongolle was signed alongside Le Tallec and did slightly more for Liverpool than his former mate, but still failed to cut the mustard and was sold in 2007.

Incredibly, he went on to play for Atletico Madrid – but that doesn’t really have much impact on his rating here.

66 appearances resulted in just nine goals and loans to Blackburn Rovers and Recreativo de Huelva followed before Sinama-Pongolle secured a permanent move to Huelva.

Michael Owen and Milan Baros‘s injuries meant the youngster would play more than expected in his first season, but was soon forced down the pecking order – especially when Robbie Fowler re-joined the side.

Rating: 3/10