Liverpool’s five worst foreign flops in the Premier League

Liverpool (5/1 with Coral for a top four finish) were handed even more winter woes after stumbling to a 3-0 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford, sending the Merseysiders to 10th place in the Premier League table.

During the disappointing rout, Brendan Rodgers’ struggling Reds had many poor displays on show from foreign acquisitions, as United ran riot. After no-shows from several of the overseas signings, Coral take a look at the biggest foreign flops to have played for Liverpool in the Premier League.

Alberto Moreno
Antonio Valencia gave Spain and former Sevilla left back Moreno a torrid time throughout the crucial clash at the weekend, as the he failed to deal with the Ecuador international’s strong burst forward which eventually led to Wayne Rooney opening the scoring.

Moreno was completely overwhelmed by the occasion in Manchester, finding it impossible to deal with the pace and movement of United’s wonderful wing-play.

Liverpool’s despairing full-back was signed from the Bathtubs for a reported £12m fee, and the 22-year-old has showed a distinct lack of intelligence this season, causing real problems for his side at times.

Following a tough afternoon at Old Trafford, the Spaniard found himself being substituted after 67 minutes. This concluded an unacceptable display from Moreno, who had previously been heralded as one of Rodgers’ more successful signings of the summer window.

Andriy Voronin
Having signed for Liverpool on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in July 2007, Voronin originally impressed on his Reds debut, with Rafa Benitez even maintaining that he was a clever player, that had great game awareness and gave the Reds ‘many more options in attack’.

However, that opinion was to be short-lived after the misfiring Ukrainian netted only five league goals in his maiden campaign in England, before being shipped out on loan to Hertha Berlin. Despite returning to Anfield, Voronin was ultimately sold to Dynamo Moscow for £4m in 2010, having struck just five times in 27 league appearances.

Ryan Babel
Babel arrived at Anfield as one of the hottest prospects in world football, with his flair and trickery dazzling defenders and fans during his time at Ajax.

After an £11.5m transfer from the Eredivisie giants, there was genuine excitement among Kop fans, but it never turned out quite as imagined. The Dutchman played 146 games for the Reds, but after his fee and potential, Babel was extremely inconsistent for Liverpool, looking a world-beater one week then more like a Sunday league player the next.

He did very little and constantly disappointed and frustrated his coaches and fans for four years before joining Hoffenheim in 2011.

Milan Jovanovic
Before finding an escape route to Belgian side Anderlecht in 2011, Liverpool’s former flop forward, Jovanovic, gave the Anfield faithful plenty to moan after only 10 abysmal appearances in a Liverpool shirt. The shocking Serbian was signed from Standard Liege on a free by ex-Reds boss Benitez, and failed to bag a single goal during his one campaign at Anfield in 2010/2011.

Mark Gonzalez
Gifted Gonzalez was regarded as one of Chile’s brightest young stars after a after a highly promising season with Spanish side Albecete. Liverpool faced a long wait before they could see this highly-rated winger in action when a cruciate knee injury late in the 2005 season threatened the move before a work permit application was rejected.

A £1.5m deal was eventually struck, but it was to be an anti-climax, with Gonzalez in due course, being shipped back to Spain in July 2007, signing for Real Betis. Sadly, Reds fans saw altogether less of him than they might have hoped, as he suffered a run of fitness problems and poor showings, scoring only three goals in 36 appearances for the Anfield outfit.