It's All EurOver Now / Rafa's Transfers

 Euro 2012 has reached it's conclusion with Spain the worthy winners. After spending so long under the stewardship of Rafa and supporting a team made up of Spaniards it's difficult not to have a soft spot for them and I'm very pleased they won. People began to say the Spanish side was boring but if keeping the ball for 75% of most matches, only conceding one goal in six games and battering a well organised Italian side 4-0 is boring then I hope watching Liverpool next season is a total snoozefest.

 I was impressed with all of the Spanish players but I kept a close eye on Alvaro Arbeloa, primarily because he was in my fantasy football team (cheers for the five clean sheets fella!) but also because I thought he was very underrated at Liverpool and I hoped his ability would be recognised over the course of the tournament. In the end it turned out he was the only regular starter in the Spanish squad who didn't make UEFA's squad of 23 players of the championships but nevermind eh, I'm sure that winners medal will more than make up for the snub.

 Arbeloa's performances got me thinking about how Benitez did in the transfer market for us and I feel on balance he was much more successful than he was given credit for. Starting at the back and working through to the front he signed Pepe Reina, not somebody who we were overly familiar with but who turned out to be one of the best 'keepers in the world, he's still at Anfield and if we were to sell him we would probably quadruple what we paid. Arbeloa came in fairly cheaply and left for Real Madrid after a successful couple of seasons in our team. I'm still surprised now by how little money we got for him when he left. Rafa also brought in Agger and Skrtel who have proven themselves over the last few seasons to be top class defenders. Again they are both still at Anfield and again if they were to leave we would receive substantially more than we paid for them. Alonso, Mascherano and to a lesser extent Momo Sissoko and Luis Garcia were all successful signings, leaving us for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and Atletico Madrid, and all leaving Liverpool with a tidy profit on their departure. Up front Rafa has brought in Kuyt, Crouch and Torres. Kuyt has worked tirelessly for our cause for seasons now and will be missed after his transfer to Turkey. We didn't get alot for him but his age and time remaining on his contract account for the relatively small transfer fee. He has provided us with some great memories and never let us down, he will be fondly remembered by loyal Kopites. Crouch was signed for £7 million which was questioned at the time and it took him a while to score his first goal but he proved to be an effective weapon for club and country. He has moved three times since he joined Liverpool, to Pompey, Spurs and Stoke and each time the fee paid has been a few million more than we forked out to Southampton. And as for Torres, the Premier League has never seen such an exciting striker as our old number nine on top form! He's struggled a little at Chelsea with being in and out of the team but has just finished with the golden boot at Euro 2012 and is another player we made a profit on, this time a profit of over £25 million! Can't argue with that.

 To balance this out there were the likes of Josemi, Kromkamp, Dossena, Keane, Morientes and Babel who never really made a lasting impression. But there were also players like Kyriakos, Zenden, Fowler and Aurelio who were never massive hits but certainly didn't let anybody down and played their part in some big victories and could never be called flops.

 It just goes to show that we still have a long way to go, the list of players who have left seems far more impressive than the current squad but we also have to remember Liverpool is in a transitional period, fairly new owners, a new young manager and probably the youngest squad we've seen at the club for a long time, all bode well for the future. As long as expectations are realistic and support remains strong I'm feeling very optimistic about the next phase in the life of Liverpool Football Club, let's hope the new manager can bring in as many players who give us fantastic memories as Rafael Benitez did. And let's hope we're as boring as Spain for a long time to come.