From Lazar Markovic to Luis Diaz: Liverpool have come a long way
Liverpool have just signed a young and tricky winger from the Portuguese league. No, we're not talking about Luis Diaz. It's 2014 and the name on every Liverpool fan's lips is Lazar Markovic.
It's a name that eventually came to personify the stasis, the disinterest and the lethargy that plagued the early years of FSG's reign. One who was the unfortunate poster boy for their "moneyball" approach to football.
It's also a name fans can be forgiven for burying in the deepest recesses of their minds. Especially considering how the club is now, once again, European royalty.
#LFC are delighted to announce the signing of Benfica forward Lazar Markovic #LazarLFC http://t.co/bP1assvE7k
The summer of 2014, when Markovic signed for Liverpool as a fresh-faced 20-year-old, was arguably where the rot had truly begun to set in. It was a summer of upheaval.
The team was fresh off a title challenge that saw some swashbuckling football spearheaded by the lethal "SAS" duo of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez. 101 goals had been scored in the league. Raheem Sterling was all set to become the next big English superstar.
Fans rightly expected the team to push on in the summer that followed. Hopefully, take that elusive step of claiming a first domestic crown in over 20 years.
Instead, FSG sold Suarez to Barcelona, where he teamed up with Lionel Messi and Neymar in their primes. That team would go on to complete a treble under Luis Enrique the same year.
For all his behavioral problems, Suarez was still the team's talisman and a generational talent. In the 2013/14 season, despite missing the first few games, he banged in 31 goals and broke the Premier League scoring record.
It was a cleansweep as far as personal accolades were concerned too. He won the PFA Player of the Year award, the Premier League Player of the Season award, and the European Golden Shoe. To nobody's surprise, he was also named the Football Association Writers Player of the Year.
Markovic joined a team in turmoil
So how would Liverpool replace someone who was very likely irreplaceable? Unfortunately, it seemed like they had not learned their lessons from Tottenham's ill-fated spending spree the previous summer.
Out went Suarez and in came Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Emre Can, Dejan Lovren, Divock Origi, Alberto Moreno, Mario Balotelli, and of course, Markovic.
You could argue that most on that list made a decent contribution to the Reds during their stay on Merseyside. The fact that only Origi remains from that list, however, should tell you volumes.
Though it's easy to claim now that the transfer business was distinctly average, fans then did not have the benefit of hindsight. Trawl through the Twittersphere and you'll find posts that celebrated Markovic's arrival. The hype did have some substance to it.
Markovic was the youngest of the eight signings and had oodles of potential. He was also coming off an impressive season with Benfica that saw the Portuguese club make a run to the Europa League final.
Liverpool had beaten interest from Chelsea to sign the 20-year-old too. So the expectations, as you can imagine, were sky-high. Speaking at the time, manager Brendan Rodgers had sung praises and expressed his glee at getting to work with the tricky Serbian winger.
"This is an exciting signing for us and one that improves our squad, in terms of attacking options, for the coming season," he had said. "He was hugely impressive for Benfica last season and has proved he has the ability to produce the goods in European competition as well, which will be important for us."
"Getting him at such a young age is also very pleasing for us, because we will be able to work with him to develop his talent within our group and improve him even further. He is the sort of character who is hungry to get better and progress; this is what we look for in players."
Markovic seemingly hit the ground running, putting in some authoritative performances in pre-season. With the 2014/15 league campaign looming, the new strikeforce was set to be "SMS" -- Sturridge, Markovic and Sterling.
It would also be the team's first season in the Champions League in five years, and there were mouths salivating at the thought of watching him tear it up on a European stage.
Comparisons were unfairly drawn to Eden Hazard. The diminutive winger had moved to Chelsea from France and terrified defenses across the country over the past two seasons. A fanbase thirsting for the title found itself pinning its hope on this baby-faced Serbian who had less than 100 senior games under his belt.
Markovic found he had walked into a team that was creatively bankrupt. Suarez was gone, Sturridge had started spiraling down injury hell, and Sterling looked a shadow of his 2013/14 self. The latter would soon start dropping hints that his future lay away from Anfield.
A relatively decent opening month did see the Reds thrash Tottenham 3-0 at White Hart Lane courtesy of an incredible solo goal from Moreno. But it was all downhill from there.
A team that was already defensively suspect -- they conceded 51 goals the previous season -- soon found itself unable to find the back of the net as well.
This is not to excuse Markovic's performances, of course. While you could argue too much was expected from him, whenever he did find himself on the pitch, he did himself no favors. He was easily shoved off the ball, kept dribbling into blind corners, and very much had the aura of a rabbit caught in the headlights.
A perfect summary of his Liverpool career can be found in a crucial Champions League group game against Basel at Anfield that December. A game that was a decider for which team would progress to the Round of 16.
On as a second-half substitute for Rickie Lambert with the Reds 1-0 down, Markovic initially seemed like a man reborn. He ran the Swiss team's defense ragged. To the crowd, pregnant with expectation, it only seemed like a matter of time before an equalizer would turn the game on its head.
Instead, the Serbian was shown a red card for a flailing arm, which left the team chasing a deficit with just ten men. Despite some last minute heroics from Steven Gerrard, it just wasn't to be. The game ended 1-1 and the Reds were out at the group stage at the first time of asking.
Markovic did have a brief renaissance after Rodgers switched to a 3-4-2-1, though that came in the right wingback position. Sharp-minded Reds will remember *that* goal that never was against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Had that scissor kick gone in, how different would his career at Anfield have transpired?
At the end of the 2014/15 season, where Liverpool finished 6th in the league and failed to win a major trophy, the numbers did not make for a kind reading. In 34 games across all competitions, Markovic had three goals and one assist. Not nearly enough for a team with the Reds' aspirations.
Fans, however, desperately wanted him to kick on. They theorized that his problems were those of acclimatization to the rough and tumble of England's top division. Maybe a second season would provide redemption.
Jurgen Klopp's appointment midway through 2015/16 saw that hope rekindled, though it quickly became apparent that Markovic just wasn't cut out to play at that level.
He was sent out on loan to Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig for the second half of the season, where he didn't impress either. Further loans to Sporting CP, Hull City and Anderlecht yielded precious little.
Bizarrely, Fulham took a punt on the Serbian in 2018/19, signing him for a free after the recommendation of national teammate Alexander Mitrovic. He ended up making a grand total of one appearance for the Londoners.
From Markovic, to Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah, and more, for Liverpool
Markovic is still only 27, and his life has come full circle from those heady days of being heralded as Europe's next big young thing. He now plies his trade back in Serbia for Partizan, the same team through whose ranks he first broke through as a teenager.
Liverpool have moved on as well. Another winger has now made the switch from the Primeria Liga to the Reds' ranks. This time from Benfica's arch-rivals, Porto.
Diaz unexpectedly signed from Porto for a reported £50 million. Some quiet prayers will be made so he has a much more heralded Anfield career.
#OnThisDay last year, @MoSalah finished off this sublime Reds counter-attack at the London Stadium 🔥🔙 https://t.co/vLEbGxaNmd
The Reds now operate in a different stratosphere when it comes to the transfer market. Gone are the days of losing players like Willian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Clint Dempsey to rivals due to suffering standards. These days, they only shop off the top shelf.
It's a swagger that has been earned. There likely isn't a player on the planet who would complain at the thought of turning out on the hallowed Anfield turf these days.
Liverpool now boast a supremely talented line-up -- one with arguably the best right-back in the world in Trent Alexander-Arnold and the best center back in Virgil Van Dijk. Supplemented further by the likes of Fabinho, Andy Robertson, Alisson and Sadio Mane, it's a squad that's likely the envy of every team on the continent.
In Markovic's favored position on the right wing, the Reds now have Mohamed Salah. A bonafide modern-day club legend whose song is regularly belted by the Kop. The Egyptian's goals have powered Liverpool to a Champions League, a first Premier League title in 30 years, a UEFA Super Cup, and a Club World Cup.
This season, he's in particularly scintillating form, and the main man in attack as the team looks to compete on four fronts. There's also a stark contrast to the Serbian's contract situation, which became a talking point for all the wrong reasons as it winded down. The feeling now is there will be riots if FSG fail to tie the Egyptian down long-term at Anfield.