Liverpool's staggering £537m most expensive all-time XI - featuring former Chelsea stars

Liverpool may not quite have the same reputation as teams like Chelsea and Manchester United when it comes to spending big – indeed, some would say owners Fenway Sports Group can be rather tight-fisted at times – but they’ve still splashed some serious cash in the pursuit of silverware over the years.

Today, we’re going to put together the most expensive team ever assembled at Anfield – no messing around with crowbarring strikers into every corner of the squad like we’re Garth Crooks, this is as pricey as it gets for the club in a sensible 4-2-3-1 formation. There are huge hits and a few players that provide evidence that big spending doesn’t always work. And no, Andy Carroll doesn’t make the cut. Let’s say he’s on the bench.

GK: Alisson (£67m)

You can’t say Liverpool didn’t get their money’s worth here. Signed for an initial £56m with add-ons taking it up higher over time, Alisson is the second most expensive shot stopper of all time behind only Kepa Arrizabalaga, who probably wasn’t such a smart signing. It’s strange to think that the Alisson era may be coming to an end when Giorgio Mamardashvili arrives next summer, but when Jürgen Klopp claimed that he would have paid double for Alisson if he’d had to, he probably wasn’t exaggerating. One of the greats of this century.

LB: Alberto Moreno (£12m)

You have to go quite a long way down the list of Liverpool’s most expensive signings to find a left-back, and it’s Moreno who wins out – at, least, if you don’t count occasional stand-in Stewart Downing. A bit of a flop, the Spaniard only managed 90 appearances in five years and was eventually supplanted by the far superior Andrew Robertson, who only cost an estimated £8m. Still, it’s not like they broke the bank, even if this wasn’t the best buy in their history.

CB: Virgil van Dijk (£75m)

Very few teams have ever broken their transfer record for a defender, but Van Dijk was worth every penny. One of the most dominant and enduring defenders in the Premier League, he was pivotal to successful league and European title campaigns and is still their best centre-half nearly seven years later. He isn’t their most expensive player any more – we’ll get there – but while he was wildly expensive, he paid it back in spades.

CB: Ibrahima Konaté (£36m)

The French defender cost half as much as his defensive partner and has arguably been about half as good, although he’s finally started to show the kind of consistency and solidity that Liverpool will need should Van Dijk leave on a free at the end of this season. He’s mostly been a rotational piece since arriving in 2021 but has become a regular under Arne Slot and has looked like one, too. Getting there.

RB: Glen Johnson (£18.5m)

The Reds don’t seem that keen to spend money on full-backs, and given that they got Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold for a combined £8m and some academy costs, they’ve had good reason to keep the purse strings tight at this position – not that the Johnson deal wasn’t big money for 2009. Although often viewed as failing to live up to his billing (one of many relatively expensive buys in his era who missed the mark), he still made 200 appearances for the club. Not a great, by any means, but a respectable purchase in the end.

CM: Naby Keïta (£52.5m)

Talk about a mixed bag of a career. The midfielder was good enough when it mattered to play a key role in the acquisition of several pieces of silverware but started slowly and fell off a cliff before his departure, and his career hasn’t recovered, with his spell at Werder Bremen proving something of a disaster – although he did get to be Guinea’s flag bearer at the Paris Olympics. Excellent at his best, less so at his worst.

CM: Fabinho (£39m)

The Brazilian also struggled to maintain his usual high standards towards the end of his time at Anfield, but he was rather more consistent than Keïta before he passed his impressive peak and was arguably the best holding midfielder in the world for a couple of years – years which coincided, of course, with a Champions League win and a Premier League title. A bargain, even at the price.

AM: Dominik Szoboszlai (£60m)

Now behind only Van Dijk and our centre-forward among Liverpool’s biggest transfer expenditures, the Hungarian playmaker has set a very high standard over the course of his first 18 months at Anfield and has quickly become central to Arne Slot’s attacking play. A few more goals wouldn’t go amiss from such an expensive number ten, but his technical quality and vision make up for any deficiencies in that department.

LW: Luis Díaz (£49m)

The initial fee for the Colombian winger was £37m but we’ve chosen to assume that he hit enough of his add-ons for him to pass Diogo Jota as the club’s most expensive left winger, but it’s close. Either way, Díaz has proven to be inconsistent but superb when on an upswing. Worth every penny? Probably not, but nobody’s putting him down as a bust even with such a high transfer fee.

RW: Mohamed Salah (£43m)

One of the greatest ever to do it in the Premier League, Liverpool saw the potential that Chelsea didn’t and spent big on the Egyptian winger, who couldn’t have paid it back many more times over if he tried. For the Reds, one of the most successful transfers in English top flight history. For the Blues, one of the biggest missed opportunities. And for Salah himself, the perfect landing spot for his talents.

CF: Darwin Núñez (£85m)

Assuming the Uruguayan hits most of the add-ons in the deal which brought him to Anfield, he will surpass Van Dijk as Liverpool’s record signing – and for a team which has generally done well when it spends big money, this looks like a rare misfire, which is what Darwin usually does himself when presented with a chance.

At his best, he looks powerful, graceful and dangerous up front. At his worst, which seems to be a little more frequent, he looks all over the place. Strikers have been Liverpool’s Achilles heel in the transfer market since selling Fernando Torres 13 long years ago, and one can argue that Carroll or Christian Benteke were worse buys, but it’s Darwin that cost the most by far.