Liverpool news: Some of Reds’ most exciting signings

Joe Cole joined on a free transfer from Chelsea in the summer of 2010 making him Roy Hodgson’s first signing at the club. There was lots of buzz after Liverpool landed the 28-year-old England star ahead of Arsenal and Tottenham, but his Premier League debut lasted just 45 minutes before he was sent off for a poor challenge against the Gunners, and it didn’t get much better from there. Cole was sent out on loan and then eventually sold in January 2013, after making just 26 appearances and scoring three goals for the Reds.

Steven Gerrard on Cole: “Messi can do some amazing things – but anything he can do, Joe can do as well, if not better.”

Virgil van Dijk joined in January 2018 from Southampton and remains Liverpool’s most expensive transfer at £75m. He reached back-to-back Champions League finals in his first one and a half seasons, winning it at the second time of asking. The Dutch colossus has since added two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and the Club World Cup to his cabinet and took the captain’s armband in 2023.

David Moss, the talent scout who brought Van Dijk to Celtic, said : “I used to say to Premier League clubs: ‘Van Dijk is a man playing in a playground against kids, he stands out so much. He’s 6ft 4in, can ping it from one end of the field to the other, can head it, scores goals, is quick … he’s got everything.’ And they’d still go and buy someone else. I’d despair.”

Thiago Alcantara left Bayern Munich for a £20m move to Liverpool in 2020 for what ended up being a patchy, injury-ridden spell. In four years on Merseyside, the Barcelona academy graduate made 98 appearances, scored three goals and won one FA Cup.

Former Bayern manager Hansi Flick said: “Thiago is an extraordinary player and was very important for us. It was very emotional as we said goodbye. I can only congratulate Liverpool as they got a great player and especially a great person.”

As for likely £114m recruit Wirtz, he has come back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in 2022 to become a key part of Leverkusen’s domestic double under former Red Xabi Alonso in 2023-24. With 23 goal contributions that campaign, he was named the Bundesliga’s player of the season.

Alonso said: “Why is Messi so good? Because he knows how and when to play simple passes. Messi says: ‘You’re in a better position? Here, there you have the ball!’ It’s not always about making the most brilliant move, but the best and smartest. Florian can do that. That’s why he’s so good.”

Honourable mentions:

Now as we said, this is by no means a scientific list and there were other names who could have made the eight – including (but not limited to) Karl-Heinz-Riedle, Markus Babbel, Luis Suarez, Naby Keita, Alisson, Darwin Nunez… and yes, even El-Hadji-Diouf, who arrived with huge hype after the 2002 World Cup.

But now it’s over to you…

Rank the eight names we narrowed it down to here

And as importantly, get in touch with your thoughts on those named – and tell us who else should have been on the list – here