How Brendan Rodgers' signings at Swansea, Liverpool and Celtic rated

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/how-brendan-rodgers-signings-swansea-2821703

 

 

As the Leicester City boss prepares for his first transfer window at the King Power Stadium, we assess his success in the market

ByJordan Blackwell
07:00, 2 MAY 2019

Brendan Rodgers’ first transfer window as Leicester City manager is looming into view.

The Northern Irishman has already spoken of the areas he would like to strengthen – notably out wide and up front – and is attending weekly recruitment meetings to discuss plans with the club’s hierarchy and scouting team.

The recruitment staff will take the lead regarding incomings this summer, but with City yet to appoint a transfer chief since Eduardo Macia’s departure, Rodgers will have some sway, while the final decision on potential transfers will be his.

In preparation, we have decided to look at Rodgers’ business at Swansea, Liverpool and Celtic, since his first top-flight season in 2011, to assess his success in the market.

Of course, Rodgers is not wholly responsible for these signings, particularly at Liverpool, where Fenway Sports Group’s methods were in play, but he will have played a role in most deals.

 

Swansea 2011-12
Michel Vorm (£1.5m, Utrecht), Danny Graham (£3.5m, Watford), Wayne Routledge (£1.75m, Newcastle), Leroy Lita (£1.5m, Middlesbrough), Fede Bessone (free, Leeds), Jose Moreira (£100k, Benfica), Darnel Situ (£250k, Lens), Gerhard Tremmel (free, Red Bull Salzburg), Curtis Obeng (£200k, Wrexham), Rory Donnelly (Cliftonville, £150k), Vangelis Moras (free, Bologna), Steven Caulker (loan, Spurs), Josh McEachran (loan, Chelsea), Gylfi Sigurdsson (loan, Hoffenheim)

The first summer after promotion is always tricky. It’s a significant jump in quality from the Championship to the Premier League, so strengthening is a must. But bringing in too many players can disrupt the harmony and cause sides to lose what made them so successful.

At Swansea, Rodgers judged it spot on.

Between the sticks, Michel Vorm was a great, and inexpensive, signing, while after a few years flitting around the country, Wayne Routledge settled in south Wales and proved an effective buy.

Steven Caulker was loaned in and sured up the back-line while a £3.5m gamble on Championship hotshot Danny Graham worked a treat as he scored a crucial 12 goals.

But the big success was the loan signing of Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Icelandic international influential in the second half of Swansea’s debut Premier League season. So impressive were his performances that Spurs paid £9m to take him that summer, Sigurdsson not joining the Swans permanently until two years later.

Leroy Lita could not step up like Graham, while there were several low-fee gambles on young players that did not work out, but overall, this was a successful season of deals.

RATING: 8/10

 

Liverpool 2012-13
Fabio Borini (£10m, Roma), Joe Allen (£15m, Swansea), Oussama Assaidi (£2.4m, Heerenveen), Samed Yesil (£1m, Bayer Leverkusen), Daniel Sturridge (£12m, Chelsea), Philippe Coutinho (£8.5m, Inter Milan), Nuri Sahin (loan, Real Madrid)

Rodgers went with what he knew upon moving to Anfield, offering Joe Allen a lift from the Liberty Stadium to Merseyside and bringing in Fabio Borini, who he had worked with at Chelsea and Swansea.

The highly-rated Nuri Sahin also joined on loan from Real Madrid.

But Borini flopped, Allen never quite lived up to the ‘Welsh Xavi’ tag, while Sahin struggled to adjust to life in the Premier League.

So while the summer window was poor, the winter window was superb. Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho arrived for modest fees and became Reds favourites, playing vital roles in Liverpool’s title near-miss.

In January 2018, Coutinho was sold to Barcelona for a whopping £120m.

RATING: 7/10

 

Liverpool 2013-14
Luis Alberto (£6.8m, Sevilla), Iago Aspas (£7m, Celta Vigo), Simon Mignolet (£9m, Sunderland), Kolo Toure (free, Man City), Tiago Ilori (£7m, Sporting Lisbon), Mamadou Sakho (£15m, PSG), Aly Cissokho (loan, Valencia), Victor Moses (loan, Chelsea)

Eek. This was the campaign that Liverpool challenged for the title, but their signings played little-to-no part in their success.

Luis Alberto disappeared quickly, the future never arrived for one-for-the-future Tiago Ilori, while Aly Cissokho and Victor Moses made minor impacts in their bit-part roles.

Kolo Toure was popular in the stands and in the changing room, but did not do a great deal on the pitch, while big-money recruits Mamadou Sakho and Simon Mignolet did well in parts, though both divided opinion.

Iago Aspas flopped so badly that although he has scored 94 goals in 178 games, and earned 17 caps for Spain, since leaving Liverpool, he’s still best remembered in England for taking a terrible corner.

RATING: 3/10

 

Liverpool 2014-15
Rickie Lambert (£4m, Southampton), Adam Lallana (£25m, Southampton), Emre Can (£10m, Bayer Leverkusen), Kevin Stewart (free, Spurs), Lazar Markovic (£20m, Benfica), Dejan Lovren (£20m, Southampton), Divock Origi (£10m, Lille), Alberto Moreno (£12m, Sevilla), Mario Balotelli (£16m, AC Milan), Javi Manquillo (loan, Atletico Madrid)

The raid of Southampton that has since become a Liverpool tradition began with Rodgers in 2014-15 as he signed Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren for a combined £50m.

Lambert’s fairytale rise did not have a fairytale ending, Lallana, while clearly a superb talent, has been badly affected by injuries, while Lovren has gradually improved, but the Reds still seem better without him in the side.

Alberto Moreno is great on the front foot but his lapses in concentration have prevented him from becoming a very good left-back.

The impetuous and/or misunderstood Mario Balotelli was not the man to replace Luis Suarez, while Lazar Markovic has proven to be a very costly gamble.

On a positive note, Divock Origi has popped up with a few important goals, while Emre Can was decent, if inconsistent, before moving to Juventus.

RATING: 5/10

 

Liverpool 2015-16
Joe Gomez (£3.5m, Charlton), James Milner (free, Man City), Danny Ings (£6.5m, Burnley), Adam Bogdan (free, Bolton), Roberto Firmino (£21.3m, Hoffenheim), Nathaniel Clyne (£10m, Southampton), Christian Benteke (£32.5m, Aston Villa), Allan (£500k, Internacional)

Rodgers’ final window as Liverpool boss was arguably his best, with three big hits here.

Signed as a prospect, Joe Gomez quickly rose to prominence and has been strong, versatile and a fast learner in defence.

As free transfers go, there are few better than James Milner, who has provided reliability, commitment and a fair amount of assists from nearly every position on the pitch.

And now spearheading Liverpool’s terrific front three, Roberto Firmino has become one of the best all-round strikers in world football.

Danny Ings started so well that he got himself in England contention before injuries took their toll, while Nathaniel Clyne proved a more-than-adequate right-back before being usurped by wonderkid Trent Alexander-Arnold.

All of those outweigh the Christian Benteke misfire, who did not get close to justifying his exorbitant price-tag.

RATING: 8/10

 

Celtic 2016-17
Moussa Dembele (£500k, Fulham), Kolo Toure (free, Liverpool), Scott Sinclair (£3.5m, Aston Villa), Dorus de Vries (free, Forest), Cristian Gamboa (£1m, West Brom), Eboue Kouassi (£3m, Krasnodar)

Moussa Dembele, Rodgers’ first signing at Parkhead, epitomised a good opening window for the Northern Irishman.

Signed for next to nothing, Dembele scored 51 goals in 94 games before moving to Lyon for £20m last summer.

Prolific frontman Moussa Dembele was Brendan Rodgers' first signing at Celtic
Prolific frontman Moussa Dembele was Brendan Rodgers' first signing at Celtic (Image: Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)
Scott Sinclair, a Rodgers old boy from Swansea, has had a similarly big impact, scoring 60 goals in 153 games.

Toure teamed up with Rodgers again, showing his experience before moving into coaching.

However, neither Dorus de Vries nor Cristian Gamboa have pulled up trees while Eboue Kouassi, though still young, has hardly featured.

RATING: 7/10

 

Celtic 2017-18
Jonny Hayes (£1m, Aberdeen), Kundai Benyu (free, Ipswich), Olivier Ntcham (£4.5m, Man City), Patrick Roberts (loan, Man City), Odsonne Edouard (loan, then £10m, PSG), Marvin Compper (£1m, RB Leipzig), Lewis Morgan (£300k, St Mirren), Charly Musonda (loan, Chelsea), Scott Bain (loan, then free, Dundee), Jack Hendry (£1.5m, Dundee)

Let’s start with the good.

Olivier Ntcham has been a classy presence in midfield while Odsonne Edouard, excellently nicknamed French Eddie, has filled the hole vacated by Dembele, scoring 31 goals in 78 outings.

In goal, Scott Bain has now earned enough trust to have replaced Craig Gordon as number one.

But that’s about where it ends.

Rodgers renewed Patrick Roberts’ loan deal, but his second spell did not get close to matching his first, mainly due to injuries.

Former City winger Jonny Hayes was picked up after a sublime season for Aberdeen, but he failed to maintain that form.

Neither Kundai Benyu nor Charly Musonda worked out, though Lewis Morgan and Jack Hendry are young enough to yet come good, even if the latter has been subject to much criticism.

Marvin Compper is a certified flop. The centre-back has played just 83 minutes and has been out of favour for the 18 months since he arrived in Glasgow.

At the club’s AGM last November, Rodgers took responsibility for the deal.

RATING: 5/10

 

Celtic 2018-19
Emiliano Izaguirre (free, Al-Fayha), Daniel Arzani (loan, Man City), Youssouf Mulumbu (free, Kilmarnock), Filip Benkovic (loan, Leicester), Oliver Burke (loan, West Brom), Timothy Weah (loan, PSG) Vakoun Issouf Bayo (£2m, Dunajska Streda), Maryan Shved (£2m, Karpaty Lviv), Jeremy Toljan (loan, Borussia Dortmund)

City’s own Filip Benkovic takes the prize for Celtic’s best signing of the 2018-19 season, the Croatian a composed and aerially dominant figure at the heart of the Bhoys back-line, although injury has stopped him featuring too heavily of late.

Oliver Burke, who grew up in Leicestershire, and Timothy Weah, have also proven shrewd loan signings, and Daniel Arzani may have been had he not suffered a season-ending injury on his debut.

Jeremy Toljan has not quite lived up to expectation, Emiliano Izaguirre was only brought in as back-up, while Youssef Mulumbu made no impact.

Signed in January, it’s too early in the careers of Vakoun Issouf Bayo and Maryan Shved to say if they are hits or misses.

RATING: 6/10

[Dan LCFC]

Did not realise that Edouard cost Celtic £10million. Jesus.

 

It's a very mixed record really. The catch is that Liverpool & Celtic have both had questionable recruitment processes. Is this because of him or is he unlucky? That's what I'd want to know.

[Guest SO1]

Grist for the mill. Time to start grinding again.

[AKCJ]

54 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Did not realise that Edouard cost Celtic £10million. Jesus.

 

It's a very mixed record really. The catch is that Liverpool & Celtic have both had questionable recruitment processes. Is this because of him or is he unlucky? That's what I'd want to know.

At the same time there are some absolute gems in there. Vorm, Gomez, Firmino, Sturridge, Coutinho, Dembele, Milner and Aspas (although it didn't work out for him at Liverpool) are all very good players signed for a fraction of their current worth.

[jayfox26]

25 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

At the same time there are some absolute gems in there. Vorm, Gomez, Firmino, Sturridge, Coutinho, Dembele, Milner and Aspas (although it didn't work out for him at Liverpool) are all very good players signed for a fraction of their current worth.

Exactly, and every manager has made good and bad signings. Even Fergie signed Djemba Djemba, Taibi, Kleberson and a fair few other duffs. At Celtic he would have found it a little difficult due to financial restrictions and at Liverpool, there was probably a pressure to try and bring in big names but Liverpool wouldn't have been able to compete financially with either Man City or Chelsea at the time. Only in the last 2 seasons have Liverpool really started spending huge amounts. Benteke was a huge flop for a lot of money but hopefully Rodgers will have learnt from his or others previous mistakes. 

 

We just dont want to panic buy and make sure we get quality over quantity. 

Edited 2 May 2019 by jayfox26

[coolhandfox]

I actual think there is more good than bad, you compare our signings of 2016-17 summer we brought 11 players for for around 75 million and only Mendy and Ndidi are still around the first team squad, to Rogers signing at Liverpool in his last two season.

 

Joe Gomez, James Milner, Roberto Firmino , Adam Lllana, Dejan Lovren, Divock Origi, are all still there and part of the squad challenging for the PL and CL, Coutinho and Can have both moved on to top CL clubs. 

Edited 2 May 2019 by coolhandfox

[adamkhalifa]

A marketing article to bring in BR's mate from Celtic. Haha

 

As said, some hit and miss. 

 

If we can avoid a window like the one after winning the league. We're half way there. 

[Guest SO1]

Have to say that this is a very fine, fair and comprehensive writing of Brendan Rodgers transfer dealings. Without all the usual agenda driven BS that follows Rodgers around.

The disclaimer at the end of the first paragraph says it all. Nobodies perfect and perfection in transfers is much greater the more you have to spend. Ask Pep. Even then.

I look forward to the club all working together to find the right players with the right technical and tactical ability to fit Rodgers playing style, no matter where they come from.

I don't know why but I have confidence in this club.

 

Thank You, Jordan Blackwell I waited 7/8 years for this. 

Edited 3 May 2019 by SO1

[Gerard]

1 hour ago, Dan LCFC said:

Did not realise that Edouard cost Celtic £10million. Jesus.

 

It's a very mixed record really. The catch is that Liverpool & Celtic have both had questionable recruitment processes. Is this because of him or is he unlucky? That's what I'd want to know.

 

Personally I don't blame or praise a manager for signings as that is the the role of others. 

 

Sure Puel signed Diabate and Ghezzal but how much would he have known about Soyuncu?

 

I'm sure BR will have the final say about what type of player we want but it's the scouting department who should live or die by the players that are signed. 

[Stadt]

Alberto and Aspas have proved that they're both excellent players, 3/10 for that season is very wide of the mark.

[Papasmurf]

19 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Alberto and Aspas have proved that they're both excellent players, 3/10 for that season is very wide of the mark.

Then Rogers should take the blame for failing to get anywhere near their best out of them or integrating them into the team.

[urban.spaceman]

@henrik_62 thoughts on this matey?

[fuchsntf]

Before we go down the managers xxx signings path.

Do the top PL managers sign  anyone.??

Or do they say,I want this "type" of player or players for this or that position,with this guy minimum quality.??

Then it's up to manager  to build the character,ethos,style of the team & individuals.

I reckon if true then these signings stats,have no meaning....

I don't know what clubs orders are,compared to seasons gone by...

[Muzzy_Larsson]

21 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

Did not realise that Edouard cost Celtic £10million. Jesus.

 

It's a very mixed record really. The catch is that Liverpool & Celtic have both had questionable recruitment processes. Is this because of him or is he unlucky? That's what I'd want to know.

Yeah he's our record singing, he's still a little inconsistent but is a big game player and has turned it on against decent sides in Europe this season.  Once he adds the consistency which will come as he's still young we'll get double what we paid for him comfortably imo, similar to what we got for Dembele.

 

Felt sorry for the guy to an extent this season as for the most part he's been our only fit striker and hasn't had any sort of rest.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

13 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

@henrik_62 thoughts on this matey?

Think this is a very accurate and balanced piece on Rodgers's signings while at Celtic.

 

I guess the big positives for us from Rodgers time are Dembele (although it's widely believed this was agreed prior to Rodgers arriving), Sinclair, although his form has dipped dramatically in the last 18 months, Ntcham and Eduoard.  The latter two can be quite inconsistent but I'm hoping this is simply down to age as on their day they are terrific players, we rejected a bid of £15m for Ntcham from Porto last summer.  Transfers don't tell the whole story though as what Rodgers is superb at and which really elevated us to another level was his ability to develop the young players we already had, guys like McGregor, Forrest, Christie, Tierney (although it was clear he was going to be a star anyway) saved us an absolute fortune in the transfer market.

 

The bit that was interesting in that piece from a Celtic perspective I thought was where Rodgers said he took full responsibility for the Comperr signing.  At the time and even now this smacked to me of him sticking up for his mate Congerton as it's widely known Congerton has tried to sign him everywhere he has been.  He must be utter dogshit as even under Lennon he's not been anywhere near the side.  Hendry was and is also a disasterous signing, a terrible player who will have no future at the club.  The latter was very much a Rodgers signing though as he was vocal about how impressed he was with him when we played Dundee.  There have been another couple of absolute disasters which we have wasted decent money on by our standards, Kouassi probably being the most high profile after Comperr.

 

As fantastic a coach as Rodgers is his main weakness imo is in the transfer market, his record at all his clubs makes pretty grim reading, particularly after the first 1 or 2 windows for some reason.  I believe a large part of it at Celtic was that charlatan Congerton who he brought along with him mind you.

 

I think the key in this regard with Rodgers is to harness him within a wider recruitment process, allow him to be a stakeholder but leave identification of talent to the wider recruitment team.  The promising thing from the couple of things I've read is that he seems to be happy that this is going to be the case at Leicester and he'll be happy coaching the players he's given that meet the criteria for what he feels the team needs.  His narrative when he first arrived at Celtic was very different in that he was very public that he believed the manager should have full control over transfers, voicing his displeasure around the transfer commitee at Liverpool.  So why the big mind shift you might ask?  My theory is this is two-fold, he thought he was much bigger than everything else at Celtic and thought he could call the shots without question in this respect and secondly I think he may be more self-aware in this respect now in that there has been a realisation that perhaps identification of players is not his strong point and as such is happy to focus on what he does best which is coaching and developing players.

[urban.spaceman]

26 minutes ago, henrik_62 said:

Think this is a very accurate and balanced piece on Rodgers's signings while at Celtic.

 

I guess the big positives for us from Rodgers time are Dembele (although it's widely believed this was agreed prior to Rodgers arriving), Sinclair, although his form has dipped dramatically in the last 18 months, Ntcham and Eduoard.  The latter two can be quite inconsistent but I'm hoping this is simply down to age as on their day they are terrific players, we rejected a bid of £15m for Ntcham from Porto last summer.  Transfers don't tell the whole story though as what Rodgers is superb at and which really elevated us to another level was his ability to develop the young players we already had, guys like McGregor, Forrest, Christie, Tierney (although it was clear he was going to be a star anyway) saved us an absolute fortune in the transfer market.

 

The bit that was interesting in that piece from a Celtic perspective I thought was where Rodgers said he took full responsibility for the Comperr signing.  At the time and even now this smacked to me of him sticking up for his mate Congerton as it's widely known Congerton has tried to sign him everywhere he has been.  He must be utter dogshit as even under Lennon he's not been anywhere near the side.  Hendry was and is also a disasterous signing, a terrible player who will have no future at the club.  The latter was very much a Rodgers signing though as he was vocal about how impressed he was with him when we played Dundee.  There have been another couple of absolute disasters which we have wasted decent money on by our standards, Kouassi probably being the most high profile after Comperr.

 

As fantastic a coach as Rodgers is his main weakness imo is in the transfer market, his record at all his clubs makes pretty grim reading, particularly after the first 1 or 2 windows for some reason.  I believe a large part of it at Celtic was that charlatan Congerton who he brought along with him mind you.

 

I think the key in this regard with Rodgers is to harness him within a wider recruitment process, allow him to be a stakeholder but leave identification of talent to the wider recruitment team.  The promising thing from the couple of things I've read is that he seems to be happy that this is going to be the case at Leicester and he'll be happy coaching the players he's given that meet the criteria for what he feels the team needs.  His narrative when he first arrived at Celtic was very different in that he was very public that he believed the manager should have full control over transfers, voicing his displeasure around the transfer commitee at Liverpool.  So why the big mind shift you might ask?  My theory is this is two-fold, he thought he was much bigger than everything else at Celtic and thought he could call the shots without question in this respect and secondly I think he may be more self-aware in this respect now in that there has been a realisation that perhaps identification of players is not his strong point and as such is happy to focus on what he does best which is coaching and developing players.

Triffic analysis, thanks. I’m hoping he realises that at Leicester he’s got the recruitment team who discovered the likes of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante among others, and trusts that they know what they’re doing.  

[Guest SO1]

52 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Triffic analysis, thanks. I’m hoping he realises that at Leicester he’s got the recruitment team who discovered the likes of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante among others, and trusts that they know what they’re doing.  

Are the guys that discovered them still here or did they leave with Macia?

[Nickfosse]

9 hours ago, SO1 said:

Are the guys that discovered them still here or did they leave with Macia?

Well, Steve Walsh is the guy who gets the credit for discovering those three and he went to Everton as Director of Football and then got sacked. I believe that one of his senior and most respected key scouts David Mills is still here. The technical data scout who worked under Walsh and whom he particularly liked, Olly Waldron is also still here I believe. 

 

On another note the prolonged lack of a Head of Recruitment appointment seems to point inexorably towards Lee Congerton getting the job in the summer. 

 

I think that Rodgers is a great coach, developer of talent, tactician, man manager, communicator and motivator and I’m delighted he’s here. The biggest concern is his record on transfers and loyalty to Congerton. 

[Guest SO1]

1 hour ago, Nickfosse said:

Well, Steve Walsh is the guy who gets the credit for discovering those three and he went to Everton as Director of Football and then got sacked. I believe that one of his senior and most respected key scouts David Mills is still here. The technical data scout who worked under Walsh and whom he particularly liked, Olly Waldron is also still here I believe. 

 

On another note the prolonged lack of a Head of Recruitment appointment seems to point inexorably towards Lee Congerton getting the job in the summer. 

 

I think that Rodgers is a great coach, developer of talent, tactician, man manager, communicator and motivator and I’m delighted he’s here. The biggest concern is his record on transfers and loyalty to Congerton. 

Thank you for taking the time to respond.  I sincerely hope Rodgers gets this right for his sake as well as the clubs. We'll find out this summer. Two weeks till the fun starts.