I thought people might be interested in this. This was originally taken from a "neutral" source (the Times). It is a breakdown of all Rafa's transfers in his time at the club. I decided to bring it up to date (I used the excellent LFCHistory.net) to get the full picture. By the way I'm not claiming it to be gospel but it should be quite accurate (though if you spot anything that seems erroneous please let me know and I'll edit accordingly). I'm not even going to mention gross figures here; I'll leave that to the fools in the media for their plethora of anti Benitez articles. What is relevant, however, is the net amounts we're talking, and in particular the average net spend per season. This is what Rafa has had to work with. Now there are even clubs outside the top 4 far outspending us, never mind the fact we can't build a squad as we have to constantly sell - so how can we actually compete? We already know all this of course, but seeing it in black & white it really does paint a shocking picture.... The Benitez years - His transfers in full Total gross spend: £229.209m Total recouped: £154.260m Total net spend: £74.949m Average net spend per season: £12.4915m Players signed: 74 Players sold or let go: 81 2004 IN (4) Xabi Alonso (Real Sociedad, £10.5m); Luis Garcia (Barcelona, £6m); Josemi (Malaga, £2m); Antonio Nunez (Real Madrid, free). OUT (3) Michael Owen (Real Madrid, £8m); Danny Murphy (Charlton Athletic, £2.5m); Markus Babbel (VfB Stuttgart, free). Spent £18.5m; Recouped £10.5m; Net Spend £8m 2005 IN (14) Peter Crouch (Southampton, £7m); Fernando Morientes (Real Madrid, £6.3m); Jose Manuel Reina (Villarreal, £6m); Mohamed Sissoko (Valencia, £5.6m); Mark Gonzalez (Albacete, £3.5m); Scott Carson (Leeds United, £750,000); Antonio Barragan (Seville, £240,000); Besian Idrizaj (Linzer ASK, £190,000); Jack Hobbs (Lincoln City, £150,000); Mauricio Pellegrino (Valencia, free); Boudewijn Zenden (Middlesbrough, free); Godwin Antwi (Real Zaragoza, nominal); Ramon Calliste (Manchester United, free), Miki Roque (Llieda, nominal). OUT (14) Milan Baros (Aston Villa, £6.5m); El-Hadji Diouf (Bolton, £4.5m); Alou Diarra (Lens, £2m); Antonio Nunez (Celta Vigo, £2m); Igor Biscan (Panathinaikos, free); Stephane Henchoz (Celtic, free); Mauricio Pellegrino (Alaves, free); Vladimir Smicer (Bordeaux, free); Gregory Vignal (Portsmouth, free); Paul Harrison (Wolves, free); Jon Otsemobor (Rotherham United, free); Ritchie Partridge (Sheffield Wednesday, free); Mark Smyth (Accrington, free); Patrice Luzi (released). Spent £29.73m; Recouped £15m; Net Spend £14.73m 2006 IN (11) Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord, £9m); Jermaine Pennant (Birmingham City, £6.7m); Craig Bellamy (Blackburn Rovers, £6m); Daniel Agger (Brondby, £5.8m); Gabriel Paletta (Banfield, £2m); Fabio Aurelio (Valencia, free); Nabil El Zhar (St Etienne, free); Robbie Fowler (Manchester City, free); Jan Kromkamp (Villarreal, free); Paul Anderson (Hull City, nominal); David Martin (MK Dons, nominal). OUT (19) Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic, £3.5m); Fernando Morientes (Valencia, £3.1m); Jan Kromkamp (PSV Eindhoven, £2m); Djimi Traore (Charlton Athletic, £2m); Antonio Barragan (Deportivo La Coruna, £680,000); Neil Mellor (Preston North End, £500,000); Dietmar Hamann (Manchester City via Bolton Wanderers, £400,000); Bruno Cheyrou (Rennes, free); Josemi (Villarreal, free); Ramon Calliste (S****horpe United, free); Robbie Foy (S****horpe United, free); Carl Medjani (Lorient, free); Conal Platt (Bournemouth, free); David Raven (Carlisle United, free); John Welsh (Hull City, free); Zak Whitbread (Millwall, free); Calum Woods (Dunfermline, free); Ryan Wilkie (released); Paul Willis (released). Spent £29.5m; Recouped £12.18m; Net Spend £17.32m 2007 IN (26) Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £20.2m); Javier Mascherano (West Ham United, £18.6m); Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5m); Lucas Leiva (Gremio, £6m); Yossi Benayoun (West Ham United, £5m); Alvaro Arbeloa (Deportivo La Coruna, £2.6m); S Leto (Lanus, £1.85m); Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao, £270,000); Krisztian Nemeth (MTK, £100,000); Dani Pacheco (Barcelona, £100,000); Alexander Kacaniklic (Helsingborgs, £75,000); Andriy Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free); Emiliano Insua (Boca Juniors, £1.3m); Charles Itandje (Lens, free); Damien Plessis (Lyons, free); Mikail Alexandrov (CSKA Sofia, nominal); Jordy Brouwer (Ajax, nominal); Gerardo Bruna (Real Madrid, nominal); Ryan Crowther (Stockport County, nominal); Francisco Manuel Duran (Malaga, nominal); Ronald Huth (Tacuary FC, nominal); Gary Mackay Steven (Ross County, nominal); Nikolay Mihaylov (Levski Sofia, nominal); Marvin Pourie (Borussia Dortmund, nominal); Andras Simon (MTK Hungaria, nominal); Danielle Padelli (Sampdoria, loan). OUT (18) Craig Bellamy (West Ham United, £7.5m); Djibril Cisse (Marseille, £6m); Mark Gonzalez (Real Betis, £4.2m); Luis Garcia (Atletico Madrid, £4m); Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Recreativo Huelva, £2.7m); Stephen Warnock (Blackburn Rovers, £1.5m); Darren Potter (Wolverhampton Wanderers, £250,000); Daniel O’Donnell (Crewe Alexandra, £100,000); Salif Diao (Stoke City, free); Jerzy Dudek (Real Madrid, free); Robbie Fowler (Cardiff City, free); Gabriel Paletta (Boca Juniors, free); Boudewijn Zenden (Marseille, free); David Mannix (Ham-Kam, free); Jay Smith (Stockport County, free); Francisco Manuel Duran (released); Dave Roberts (released); Daniele Padelli (Sampdoria, end of loan). Spent £67.595m; Recouped £26.25; Net Spend £41.345m 2008 IN (14) Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur, £20.3m); Albert Riera (Espanyol, £8m); Andrea Dossena (Udinese, £7m); Martin Skrtel (Zenit St Petersburg, £6.5m); Diego Cavalieri (Palmeiras, £3.5m); David Ngog (Paris St Germain, £1.5m); Alex Cooper (Ross County, £100,000); Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund, free); Lauri Dalla Valle (Jippo, nominal); Vitor Flora (Botafogo, nominal); Peter Gulacsi (MTK Hungaria, nominal); Emmanuel Mendy (Murcia Deportivo, nominal); Nikola Saric (Herfolge, nominal); Vincent Lucas Weijl (AZ Alkmaar, nominal). OUT (15) Peter Crouch (Portsmouth, £11m); Mohammed Sissoko (Juventus, £8.2m); John Arne Riise (AS Roma, £3.98m); Scott Carson (West Bromwich Albion, £3.75m); Danny Guthrie (Newcastle United, £2.5m); Steve Finnan (Espanyol, free); Harry Kewell (Galatasaray, free); Anthony Le Tallec (Le Mans, free); Besian Idrazaj (Wacker Tirol, free); Lee Peltier (Yeovil Town, free); San Jose Dominguez (released); Craig Lindfield (released); Ray Putterill (released); Miki Roque (released); James Smith (released). Spent £46.9m; Recouped £29.43m; Net Spend £17.47m 2009 IN (4) Victor Palsson (Aarhus GF, £384,000); Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, £17.5m); Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma, £17.1m); Sotirios Kyrgiakos (AEK Athens, £2m) OUT (9) Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur, £16m); Sami Hyypia (Bayer Leverkusen, free); J Hobbs (Leicester City, £150,000); Paul Anderson (Nottm Forest, £250,000); Jermaine Pennant (Real Zaragoza, free); Miki Roque (Betis B, free); Sebastian Leto (Panathinaikos, £3m); Ãlvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid, £3.5m); Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, £30m). Spent £36.984m; Recouped £52.9m; Net Spend (-£15.916m) 2010 IN (1) Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, free) OUT (3) * Andrea Dossena (Napoli, £4.7m); Andriy Voronin (Dinamo Moscow, £1.8m); Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Twente, £1.5m); Spent £0.0m; Recouped £8.0m; Net Spend (-£8.0m) * note Buchtmann is missing from the list on LFCHistory.net, so has been omitted for now.
According to the values of players Ive listed below ( my estimated values by the way) he has made a profit of 79m so therefore a net spend of just £3m in 5 years. He is the new Wenger I havent included any of the kids, I would guess some are worthless and some are worth a few quid. Player Cost Then Value Now (IMO) Profit/Loss Jose Manuel Reina (Villarreal, £6m); £15M 9m Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord, £9m); £10M 1m Daniel Agger (Brondby, £5.8m); £12M 6.2m Fabio Aurelio (Valencia, free); £2M 2m Nabil El Zhar (St Etienne, free) £4M 4m Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £20.2m) £50M 29.8m Javier Mascherano (West Ham £18.6m) £30M 11.4m Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5m); £8M -3.5m Lucas Leiva (Gremio, £6m); £9M 3m Yossi Benayoun (West Ham United, £5m); £9M 4m Andriy Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free); £1.5m 1.5m Emiliano Insua (Boca Juniors, £1.3m); £12m 10.7m Albert Riera (Espanyol, £8m); £6m -2m Andrea Dossena (Udinese, £7m); £4m -3m Martin Skrtel (Zenit St Petersburg, £6.5m); £10m 3.5m Diego Cavalieri (Palmeiras, £3.5m); £2m -1.5m David Ngog (Paris St Germain, £1.5m); £1.5m 0 Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund, free); £1m 1m Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, £17.5m £17.5 0 Alberto Aquilani (AS Roma, £17.1m) £17.1m 0 Sotirios Kyrgiakos (AEK Athens, £2m) £1m -1m
good reading f@ces,really interesting to see how the sly sports brigade twist everything in the media in their anti liverpool and benitez comments.always insisting benitez has to win every comp because of the millions and millions he's spent on his squad.only stevie and carra left from his first season.
Ive always maintained Benitez was shrewd and knew long term his transfer aspirations. I have to agree that sky sports and certain others in the media seem to feed us anti-Liverpool propaganda, which makes me sick because we all know different. C'MON YOU RED'S
Thanks for taking the time to do this f@ces , makes interesting reading & just goes to show how most of the media are biast against us
Very good read, anyone who had to listen to lou macari on setanta during the burnley game would love to shove this down is throat
One of the most worrying things for me from the above is how it compares to Purslows comments a few weeks ago. He said "we've spent about £20 million more than we've generated, which is what we expected." Prior to this season Benitez's average net spend has been around £18m, so one hoped that he would be given this as a minumum again. Looking at the figures, it appears there is a deficit of almost double this compared to what he claims. Not only has Rafa not had £20 million net to spend, he has in fact made a profit of £15m+ for the club. In other words, for Purslow to be correct, Rafa would have to have spent in the region of £35m more this summer (£52.9m (sales) - £36.984m (purchases)). Imagine that - if Rafa had gotten to keep the profit he has made AND got a transfer budget similar to previous campaigns. But it's worse it's getting, and in a season where we all knew the squad needed strengthening. Which leads me to the worrying conclusion that Mr. Purslow is either a) the class dunce of foundation level mathamatics, and/or b) he's a yanks yes man. I'm thinking the latter....
The money for the new contracts given to Torres, Kuyt etc, during the summer plus the wages for the new players actually came from the "transfer budget". That's Purslow's way of doing things and that's what he was referring to in the quote above. That's also the reason Rafa wasn't happy - he felt that the wages etc should be separate!
the only issue i'd have is the fact that over 150 players have come and gone in that time - which i think is astonishing upheavel of playing staff. i know a lot of that has to do with the rubbish squad he inherited fom houllier but i think that level of transfers has to stop at some stage, its very unsettling and that capriciousness is what kinda worries me. i mean, is it always going to be 6 in and 7 out every year ( i know balancing books etc has a lot to do with it) or will we ever get back to the good ol' days of 2 in 2 out and thats it. i dont like to see that level of transit ever year - it just smacks (overtly anyway) of instability. however managing to compete at the top of the prem and in the Cl on a net spend of 123m a year is no mean feat in anyones book
I know what you're saying Badman, but if Rafa was brought in to completely rebuild the club (and that is what he has been trying to do) then it was/is necessary. I would estimate that 60-65% of players sold were bought by another manager; Rafa cannot be blamed for letting those go. Of his own signings, we are probably talking 7 players (Garcia, Morientes, Palletta, Josemi, Kromkamp, Idrizaj and Keane) that yielded a loss (but a total loss of less than £10m) and 4 that were even (Pellegrino, Zenden, Fowler and Padelli (brought in and moved on for free)). When we actually look at it broken down, the media myths surrounding Rafa's activity in the transfer market become very clear. However, as you can see by the details above, there is a significant number of ins/outs until this season. A large proportion of these are young players that will hopefully benefit the club for years to come. Most of the "building" has been done, albeit arguably with the exception of the first team squad still not being strong enough.