Liverpool football club have got a long and glorious history, but their best ever signing was picked up for a bargain basement £2.5 million.
There have been a fair few expensive flops over the years, as well as players Liverpool signed for big money and then went on to do well. But when you can buy someone for a tiny fee and they become a mainstay in the side for 10 years, well that feels special.
Gerard Houllier got a few deals wrong in his time – can anyone look back on those El Hadji Diouf years with kindness? But the Frenchman also got more than a few right and this transfer is one of those.
It’s also notable for the strangeness in which it came out. The player was spotted by a cameraman, who filmed a lot of the games, who told staff at the club who then made sure the deal was done.
I guesss it was their version of Wyscout.
Of course, the man we’re talking about is Sami Hyypia – the legendary central defender who went straight into the first team and played 39 league games in 1999/2000 and never looked back. 10 years brought 464 appearances across all competitions and a reputation as one of Liverpool’s best ever defenders.
Football journalist Simon Hughes picked out the Finnish international as his best ever signing and said on the Athletic’s podcast about Liverpool:
"“At the age of 25 for £2.5m, and then to still be playing for Liverpool 10 years later after 464 games and scoring 35 goals is pretty impressive.”"
We might see someone like Virgil van Dijk or Joe Gomez go on to be classed as a better pure defender, or have more impact in terms of winning trophies. Gomez might play more games and establish himself as a transfer of equal value.
But nobody can take away from Sami Hyypia just how good he was or the impact he had on the team. I’d love to find another bargain buy like that, but £2.5 million sets the bar ridiculously low.