Liverpool’s 3 Worst Defensive Midfielders in the 21st Century

Ryan Gravenberch has been a revelation for Arne Slot and Liverpool at the defensive midfield (DM) position.

Over the past three seasons Liverpool have been calling out for a new DM, since the disappointing way Fabinho ended his time with the club. When looking even further back there have been times of challenge in the DM position for LFC.

Looking at the 21st century alone, we are going to choose from a plethora of options and pick some of the players who have played in that position and failed to impress.

Alberto Aquilani

At 25 years-old Aquilani was brought in from Roma in 2009 for a £17 million fee, which was no chump change to Liverpool in the times of Hicks and Gillett.

It was said he was bought to try and fill the hole left by Xabi Alonso. The Italian was a hot prospect in his home nation after making 102 Serie A appearances and making the UEFA Team of the Tournament in the 2007 Under-21 Euro Championships.

He was also in the Italian squad for the 2008 European Championships just two years after the nation won the World Cup.

Even before officially joining the club Aquilani had challenges to overcome as his medical was passed despite the young Italian not having played in a competitive match since 11 March 2009 because of an ankle injury.

The midfielder was further hampered by injuries and made just 28 appearances for the club, 26 of which came in his first season at the club, although he did manage six assists in that season.

He eventually departed in 2012 after loan spells with both Juventus and AC Milan. Aquilani started just 14 games for Liverpool and impressed to some extent, but for the money paid, expectations/reputation and who he was brought in to replace, the signing was a huge disappointment for club and player.

Christian Poulsen

Poulsen was one of Roy Hodson's putrid signings. The Dane joined LFC from Juventus for a modest £4 million and was a former player of Roy Hodgson when the manager was at FC Kobenhavn in Denmark.

Poulsen had played for FC Schalke, Seville and Juventus before joining the Reds and had a pretty bad reputation coming into the club and was even called out by Carlo Ancelotti.

The iconic Italian manager branded Poulsen a coward after Schalke and Milan faced off in the 2005/06 Champions League, claiming: "He plays his game when the referee is not watching, he starts swinging kicks, pushing his rivals when the official's back is turned. He is a coward, and he shouldn't be playing football." 

Another poor indictment was from Liverpool player and Poulsen’s compatriot Daniel Agger as the central defender claimed “he (Poulsen) will find the pace of here a bit of a culture shock; he will have to get used to the extra-high tempo and he won’t be able to drink café lattes like he does in Italy".

He was a massive failure at the Reds with his slow and limp style of play not coming close to the level of quality needed in the Premier League he was let go just a year later to a French second division side, maybe a sign of how bad a player he truly was.

Jay Spearing

The Academy product has recently re-joined the academy setup as a player coach for the younger generation as he sets up his career after playing football.

Spearing made his debut for the first team in 2008 in a Champions League group match away to PSV Eindhoven.

He played 55 times for Liverpool, majority of which coming between 2010 and 2012. In the 2011/12 season an injury to Lucas Leiva allowed for Spearing to play regular games for LFC making 25 appearances, 24 of them being starts.

It was, however, very clear the difference in quality between Lucas and Spearing.

When Brendan Rodgers joined the club and brought in some of his own signings, it was very clear that Spearing would not be making many, if any, first team appearances.

He Joined Bolton on-loan, which was then made permanent the season after. While at Bolton he had a loan spell at Blackburn and left the Wanderers in 2017 for Blackpool.

He eventually made it back to Merseyside, with Tranmere Rovers, before the aforementioned move back to LFC into the Academy system.

Liverpool haven’t had much luck in this position especially since Xabi Alonso left, we are all grateful to the likes of Lucas Leiva, Fabinho and now Ryan Gravenberch.