It was clear that Andoni Iraola needed defensive a reinforcement, and Liverpool were quick to add just that. With Joe Gomez, Giovanni Leoni, Jérémy Jacquet and Conor Bradley, to one degree or another, not currently available for selection, the Reds required someone who can operate at both right-back and centre-back.
Well, Ronald Araújo offers just that. The Uruguayan's loan move from Barcelona was officially confirmed on Monday evening. He will spend the season at Anfield, while the Reds have an option to make the deal permanent for €55 million, around £47 million. This seems like a no risk move, adding quality depth to a position that desperately required it. However, Liverpool's seven previous loan signings of the Fenway Sports Group-era underline that such moves often do not work out.
Thus, we document the Reds' last seven loanees, none of whom made much of an impression on Merseyside.
Arthur Melo: Summer 2022
On deadline day in September 2022, Arthur Melo joined Liverpool on a season-long loan from Juventus. The Reds paid a €4.5 million loan fee, while a €37.5 million option to buy. Fair to say, they did not consider triggering this clause. The Brazilian came off the bench just under a fortnight later during a 4-1 Champions League defeat at the hands of Napoli. Well, that would prove to be his one and only appearance for the club, totalling 13 minutes, following a left thigh muscle tear.
So how did he get here? Back in 2020, Arthur was involved in the most notorious swap deal in football history. He joined Juventus for €72 million, while Miralem Pjanić went in the opposite direction to Barcelona for €60 million. This was clearly the two clubs cooking the books, a key part of the subsequent plusvalenza scandal. Since then, Arthur has been loaned out to Liverpool, Fiorentina, Girona and Grêmio and, at the age of just 29, his top-level career feels over already.
Ozan Kabak: January 2021
Jürgen Klopp's team endured a nightmare campaign as reigning champions during the lockdown season. This campaign featured Alisson's header at the Hawthorns, but is also remembered as the year every Liverpool centre-back got injured. With Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip all out, there were times when the defensive duo was Jordan Henderson alongside Fabinho.
Thus, the Reds had to act in January and, while scrambling around, bought Ben Davies from Preston North End and recruited Ozan Kabak on loan from Schalke. Just 20 years old at the time, the Turkish international was a serviceable option, starting 13 matches, including four in the Champions League knockout stages, before suffering an injury of his own. Kabak was decent, no better than that, but might just be the best loan player on this list, which tells you something.
Steven Caulker: January 2016
One of the most bizarre signings in Liverpool history remains Steven Caulker. The centre-back spent the first half of the 2015/16 campaign on loan at Southampton from Queens Park Rangers. Following a lack of game time by the South Coast, he was recalled by QPR, only to make the surprise move to Liverpool. Well, his three Premier League appearances totalled just four minutes, thrown on as a centre-forward more than he was deployed at the back, helping Klopp's team score late goals against Arsenal and Norwich.
Caulker didn't do much in a Liverpool shirt, but is a great pub quiz answer: name a player who has represented three different national teams. He earnt one England cap, the game in which Zlatan Ibrahimović scored that overhead kick. The defender then played for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics, before switching to Sierra Leone, starting all three games at AFCON 2022.
Javi Manquillo: Summer 2014
Javi Manquillo's move from Atlético Madrid was initially a two-year loan, but was cancelled half way through, such was his impact, or lack there of. The right-back made 19 appearances for the Reds, of which just ten were in the Premier League, not featuring at all after a penalty shootout defeat to Beşiktaş in February. He would go on to play for Newcastle and Sunderland, a rare feat, but is not remembered for his time at Anfield.
Victor Moses: Summer 2013
When Premier League fans think of Victor Moses, he is associated with being the flying wing-back in Antonio Conte's title winning Chelsea team. However, he actually played for seven different English clubs, including Liverpool. On loan from Chelsea in 2013/14, the year Brendan Rodgers' side almost won the title, he was not a key figure, appearing 22 times, starting just six Premier League matches.
Now 35, Moses is still playing for Kaysar Kyzylorda, currently fourth-bottom of the Kazakh Premier League, but you already knew that, didn't you?
Aly Cissokho: Summer 2013
Another player for the title challenge season of 2013/14, Aly Cissokho arrived from Valencia, but made very little impression on Merseyside. The left-back, and I could not believe this either, actually started 12 Premier League games for Rodgers that season, of which only two they lost.
Now 38, like former team mate Moses, Cissokho is also playing in a far flung location. He has made over 100 appearances for Lamphun Warriors, who narrowly avoided relegation from Thai League 1 last season.
Nuri Şahin: Summer 2012
Last, and possibly least, Nuri Şahin's arrival at Liverpool was greeted with more excitement than any other on this list. He had joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for €10 million a year earlier, but made only ten appearances for los Blancos, thereby loaned to the Reds. Still highly-rated at the time, the Turkish international actually scored three times for the club, bagging a double against West Brom in the League Cup, as well as netting at Carrow Road during the annual demolition of Norwich.
However, he quickly fell out of favour and, by January, the loan deal was cancelled, with Şahin returning to Dortmund. At 37, he has already managed both Antalyaspor and his beloved die Schwarzgelben, now currently in charge of İstanbul Başakşehir.
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