Meet the Bosnans

Jean-Marc Bosnan. What a twat.

Not only did he cause us to lose Steve McManaman for nothing and Michael Owen for a derisory £8m plus Antonio Nunez (as if £8m wasn't insulting enough!), but he also was indirectly responsible for a roll call of dross walking through the Shankly Gates with the fact they cost nothing overriding the question of whether they were actually good enough to wear the Red shirt in the reasoning behind signing them.

By my count, Joe Cole became the eleventh player signed by Liverpool ‘on a Bosman’ since the ruling by the European Court of Justice in 1995. Amazingly, you can actually fit them into a realistic 4-4-2 formation (albeit with some players playing out of their preferred positions but still in positions they played from time to time).

So here they are, our team of Bosnans:

....................................Pegguy Arphexad
Philipp Degen..Markus Babbel...Steve Staunton........Fabio Aurelio
Joe Cole........Gary McAllister....Boudewijn Zenden..Milan Jovanovich
.........................Erik Meijer..........Andrily Voronin

Let’s be honest, if that was our best XI for the new season, most of us would be happy with a top 10 finish.

So how many of those were signed purely because they were free? How many would still have been signed if we’d had to pay a fee for them? And, excluding Jovanovic and Cole, for whom judgements will come far later, how many were actually decent acquisitions with hindsight?

Arphexad is statistically Liverpool’s most successful player based on appearances given the fact he made 6 first team appearances and picked up 5 winners’ medals. Of course, all 5 medals were won as an unused substitute so it could be argued that a blind monkey would have been just as successful. In Arphexad’s defence, Liverpool won all five games he started plus the game he joined from the bench with his team already 3-0 up. Could Liverpool have been just as successful if, instead of signing this Frenchman, we’d just retained Tony Warner? Probably.

Degen is a lousy excuse for a footballer and one of the worst right-backs I have ever seen. Seriously, it’s like watching a 6-year old who desperately wants to be playing up front but has been told to play in defence by his manager. Like a 6-year old, he seriously over estimates his level of ability and keeps grinning like a fucking idiot. Would Liverpool have fared any better or worse had we not signed Degen on a free? It’s possible we might have done fractionally better last season.

At the time, Babbel was an unbelievably good signing and a real coup to sign for nothing. He is a player whom, without the benefit of hindsight, I am certain we should have signed even if the asking price was £6m (a lot for a full-back at that time). Having the benefit of hindsight makes it a confusing dilemma because after contributing significantly to Liverpool’s treble of cups in 2001, he was tragically cut down with Guillain–Barré syndrome and we lost the player he was. As a free transfer, I don’t think anyone can argue with this one.

Staunton was a decent signing for free but I don’t believe he ever would have been signed had we had to pay a fee for him. In the summer of 1999, everyone knew we needed a centre-half or two. We signed two full-backs and, erm, Sean Dundee. Had we had money to spend, I am sure we would have signed a centre-half before Stan.

I could imagine Rafa signing Aurelio for cash if the fee was in the region of £2-3m. Rafa knew the player and clearly thought he could do a job for Liverpool FC. Aurelio backed up that belief in 2008-09 but sadly the lad just couldn’t stay fit long enough to really justify an extension to his Liverpool career.

As excited as I am about the signing of Joe Cole, if the player hadn’t been available on a Bosman, I don’t believe we would have been in for him. If we’d had the sort of money Chelsea would have wanted for Joe Cole under contract, I’m sure we’d have targeted plenty of other players first.

If Carlsberg did Bosman signings, they’d probably sign Gary McAllister. That man contributed so much in so little time and was undoubtedly an unlikely transfer masterstroke by Gerard Houllier. The intriguing question is, if Liverpool had had to pay, say £2m, to sign the Scottish veteran, would they have? I suspect not. Hindsight says he would have been worth it but could you imagine the furore if Liverpool had spent money buying a 35-year old?

Boudewijn Zenden is a player I am absolutely convinced we would never have signed had he not been available on a free transfer. At the time, squad depth was needed; he had looked half decent at a mid-table club and crucially had Premiership experience. He was not a raging success but neither was he an outright flop. He simply did the job he was brought in to do before leaving for nothing.

I hope to be surprised but from what I’ve seen of him so far, Milan Jovanovic looks no better than Milan Baros. Baros was decent but never even close to being worthy of following in the footsteps of the likes of Hunt, Keegan, Dalglish, Rush and Fowler. If we weren’t skint, would we have batted an eye lid at Jovanovic? I think not.

Erik Meijer is remembered fondly as something of a cult figure but let’s be honest, he was crap.

Andrily Voronin... I probably don’t need to say anything more than that.

So what is the conclusion, or indeed, the point of this piece? I guess it relates to expectations on Jovanovich and Cole. Hopefully they’ll both do well. Realistically, one or less will prove to be a decent signing. Ultimately, the fact we have signed two ‘Bosmans’ simply confirms we are not in a situation to sign players we want or think would improve us and are, instead, rummaging in the bargain basement. Recent history suggests it is not a strategy conducive with success.