Five Liverpool flops who shone after leaving

Martin Macdonald

• 17 Feb 2022 11:52 GMT
• 4 min read

Liverpool are going through one of the most successful periods in their history under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp.

One of the main reasons for that has been the club's fantastic business dealings in the transfer window, as in recent years the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have been brought in to enormous success.

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In the decade prior to Klopp arriving, Liverpool had a variety of players who were brought in only to fail to make the grade at Anfield.

That doesn't necessarily mean they were bad players, though, as the below list shows.

Here are five players who failed to excel at Liverpool but earned success after leaving.

Iago Aspas

This is definitely a case of a move just simply not working out for a player.

Iago Aspas has proved before and after his move to Liverpool that he is indeed a very good player – he has scored 177 goals for Celta – but he was unable to adapt to the Premier League during his time with the Reds.

The Reds had a cracking team at that time in 2013 and came close to winning the league, with Aspas usually playing second fiddle to Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge for the forward spots.

The language barrier was believed to be an issue for him, too. He returned to Spain a year after his initial move on loan at Sevilla.

At Celta, he has further established his status as a hero of the club in his second stint.

Danny Ings

Plagued by injuries during his disastrous three-year spell at Liverpool, Danny Ings managed just four goals in all competitions for the Reds.

It was extremely unfortunate for both parties as Liverpool lost out on potential goals, while Ings, a Liverpool fan, was left heartbroken.

It is certainly harsh to call Ings a flop an Anfield but his injuries meant his impact was minimal.

He has since found probably the best form of his career as at Southampton he emerged as one of the best goalscorers in the Premier League before earning a big-money move to Southampton.

Luis Alberto

Luis Alberto was a product of the Sevilla academy before making the move to Barcelona B.

After impressing in Catalunya, Liverpool decided to splurge £6.8 million on the young attacker midfielder.

There were some decent moments for Alberto at the club as he earned an assist in an away demolition of Tottenham, but he found opportunities hard to come by.

He would spend loans at Malaga and Deportivo before leaving permanently for Lazio.

In Serie A he has found terrific form, particularly in 2019/20 when he recorded no less than 15 assists in the Italian top flight.

Robbie Keane

Robbie Keane completed one of his dream moves in the summer of 2008 when he signed for Liverpool from Tottenham.

Upon signing he said: “I’ve been a Liverpool fan all my life, going back to when I was a kid growing up in Dublin, and I always had a Liverpool shirt on my back. So, to be here now as a Liverpool player is incredible and I couldn’t be happier.”

The Irishman had his moments in a Liverpool shirt, including a superb strike away versus Arsenal, but it wasn’t enough to stop the club selling him back to Spurs for an £8m loss just six months after he signed.

Though Keane perhaps did not find the kind of form he enjoyed earlier in his career, he still performed well for Spurs and eventually excelled for Celtic and LA Galaxy.

Craig Bellamy

Craig Bellamy was not a failure at Liverpool, but circumstances meant that his time at Anfield ultimately didn't work out.

He enjoyed a goalscoring debut and had his moments, such as his goal against Barcelona which was followed up by his famous golf swing celebration.

He would ultimately only score nine goals in 41 appearances over his one season with Liverpool, and was an unused substitute in the Champions League final loss against Milan.

On the flight home from that final, he criticised Rafa Benitez for not bringing him on, which the end of his time at the club.

Afterwards, he enjoyed great success at West Ham before joining the revolution at Man City.