Liverpool Transfers: 8 Players the Reds Should Never Have Bought

With the summer window now just a few weeks away, it's probably a good time to consider who might be a transfer target for Kenny Dalglish.

Before we get into all that though, let us remember how things can go wrong in the transfer market.

Overspending and under-performing are the two main gripes touted by fans of late, and here we present the eight players the Reds should never have bought.

Many fans think that Liverpool should have given Alberto Aquilani more of an opportunity on Merseyside and I'd have to agree, particularly when you look at the current creativity level of Liverpool's midfield.

The Italian arrived at the club in 2009 for a reported fee of approximately £17 million, but an injury delayed his transition into English football and meant he never really settled or hit form.

Now on loan at AC Milan, Aquilani can be signed by the Italian outfit for a cut-price fee of £5 million, meaning that Aquilani would have cost Liverpool approximately £0.6 million per Premier League appearance.

Signing a player when he's injured, playing only 18 league games and losing £12 million should AC Milan activate the clause in his contract means that Aquilani should never have set foot on Merseyside.

If Alberto Aquilani was a poor buy, Robbie Keane was even worse.

Keane arrived from Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 for approximately £19 million and departed after just 19 Premier League games, returning to his former London club.

Tottenham are believed to have paid £12 million for the return of Keane, meaning the Irish striker cost Liverpool Football Club approximately £0.37 million per Premier League game.

It was a bad move by the Liverpool board.

Carroll can be a useful player for Liverpool, but everybody knows he's not worth the £35 million that the club paid for him.

His price tag is the sole reason why Liverpool should never have bought him, not because of his ability.

The amount of money has turned the world's eyes onto the pony-tailed Geordie, and the pressure on him to perform and score goals every week has been too much for him to bear.

A sum of £35 million could have bought Liverpool a host of different strikers, and you can read about those players by following the link provided on the last slide page.

Buying Carroll was a good idea, but he should never have arrived with such a lofty price tag.

Paul Konchesky made just 15 Premier League appearances for Liverpool and—for some fans—that was 15 appearances too many.

Konchesky was a signing of doomed manager Roy Hodgson, and has since been loaned to Nottingham Forest before being signed by Leicester City.

Konchesky has been unable to find a Premier League team again since his Liverpool days, perhaps giving an insight into his playing level at the age of 30.

Just a terrible player for the Reds, fee or no fee.

El Hadji Diouf certainly rated himself as a player—as did Gerard Houillier—but the affection for the Senegalese player ended there.

Liverpool paid £10 million for the Celtic spitter in 2002, and after 80 lacklustre appearances in the league he was finally sold for an undisclosed fee to Bolton Wanderers.

Some people argue that he filled a void for Liverpool, but £10 million was way too much money for a player who rarely performed at a consistently high level.

Houllier could have signed Rivaldo but declared he did not like to spend high sums of money for what he considered to be a risk.

Great decision Gerard.

After signing Jermaine Pennant for £6.7 million in 2006, Liverpool slowly realised that he wasn't good enough for the club and certainly didn't represent them well.

No buyer was ever found for Pennant when Liverpool decided they wanted rid of him, and he ended up leaving the club for free when his contract expired less than three years later.

This was a classic case of signing a player based on one successful season.

Can Stewart Downing play good football? Yes.

Is Stewart Downing a quick, quality winger who can beat a man? Yes.

Is Stewart Downing consistent? No.

Liverpool paid Aston Villa £20 million for Downing in the summer of 2011 and Downing has rarely impressed since.

Downing has all the attributes required to be a success, but like Carroll he was way overpriced—probably by about £7 million.

Liverpool's willingness to spend high amounts of money on English "talent" has cost them in more ways than one.

You could argue that Downing is not even a regular international player—making the figure even more ridiculous.

Senegal seems a bad place for Liverpool to go shopping after the flops of Salif Diao and the aforementioned El Hadji Diouf.

Diao cost the Reds £5 million and somehow strung out his career on Merseyside for five years—although many of those were away on loan.

After 37 league appearances for the Reds, Diao was allowed to leave for nothing.

What a waste of money—again.

One thing I want to make clear is that I think Liverpool were right to try and get some of these players in, but they need to take a good look at their pricing policy.

Alberto Aquilani can still do a job for Liverpool and it seems ridiculous to let him leave for £12 million—less than they paid for him.

Carroll and Downing can still affect their value for money due to being current starting players, but they were both overrated from the get go.

As promised, follow this link to read Liverpool FC:10 Strikers LFC Could Have Bought With Money Spent On Andy Carroll.

On Twitter? Follow me @petercwebster where I post all my B/R content.