The club legends who recovered from slow starts

Liverpool duo Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez have come under criticism for their early performances at their new club, but you’d be daft to write them off. As this lot show.

Marquee signing Wirtz has shown flashes of quality but struggled to unlock defences as Arne Slot’s Reds have been forced into nail-biting late winners in each of their four outings so far.

New left-back Kerkez has looked defensively suspect, a little rash, and was hooked in the first half against Burnley while looking in serious danger of picking up a second yellow card.

We’ve identified seven Liverpool players who didn’t get off to great starts but eventually became legends.

Xabi Alonso

There’s a Mandela Effect going on, thanks to Alonso’s well-earned status as one of the game’s great Rolls-Royce midfielders.

The popular perception is that he effortlessly adapted to English football from day one, swaggering his way to the Champions League trophy at the end of his debut season.

That’s half-true. His quality certainly shone through in Rafael Benitez’s Reds’ unforgettable European odyssey that year. But the reality is that it took Alonso a little time to settle.

He had a classic Barclays era baptism of fire for his debut – away to Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers – and ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline. Losses at Chelsea and Manchester United followed.

After tasting defeat in each of his first three Premier League outings away from home, he inspired Liverpool to a brilliant 4-2 victory in his fourth.

Introduced from the bench at two-nil down at Fulham, his first goal for the club – a stunning long-range free-kick – sparked their four-goal comeback.

That was in mid-October 2004. He never looked back from there.

Lucas Leiva

Liverpool fans struggled to stomach seeing Alonso regularly benched for Lucas, who looked a bit lightweight, slow, and prone to getting bullied in midfield.

His qualities were not immediately obvious; a Rolls-Royce he was not.

The Brazilian’s reputation hit such a low point that he was booed by his own fans during a particularly anaemic performance in a 0-0 draw with Fulham.

“Fulham was the worst moment because it was the first time anything like that had happened to me but it was an experience I could learn from,” he told The Independent.

“Maybe it will happen again but now I have the experience. You have to understand the supporters.

“They were expecting Xabi [Alonso] that time and he was on the bench. The game wasn’t good, we were not playing well so I understand. Playing well is the only way you will change it.”

Lucas was never Alonso, but Liverpool fans came to appreciate the midfielder for what he was – wonderfully committed to the cause and tenacious in the tackle.

He eventually departed as a proper Kop cult hero.

Dirk Kuyt

A bit like the forward equivalent of Lucas, it took time for Liverpool’s supporters to come around to Kuyt’s particular skillset.

The Dutchman was not a glamour signing and anything but graceful. He didn’t dribble like Barnes, he didn’t finish like Fowler and he didn’t look as good on a poster as Torres.

The work-rate was always there, but goals came in fits and starts. Kuyt didn’t score in the Champions League until his consolation effort in the 2007 final defeat to AC Milan.

Would he ever amount to more than a limited workhorse?

The answer was an emphatic yes. That goal in Athens, while ultimately meaningless, hinted at his knack for big-game moments. A hat-trick against Manchester United, in particular, has long ensured his place in the club’s folklore.

Luis Suarez

Liverpool might’ve wasted a good 70% of the Premier League record £50million fee they received for Fernando Torres, but they also struck gold by arguably upgrading with the signing of Luis Suarez.

That’s how madcap the January 2011 transfer window is remembered, and for good reason. Andy Carroll was a dud, but Suarez was outrageous.

Eighty-two goals and 32 assists in just 133 appearances, eventually being flipped for a colossal profit, is evidence of one of the best forwards in Liverpool’s history.

The Uruguayan scored on his Premier League debut. The frightening potential was clear to see from day one, but his finishing was sketchy at first and it took him time to get on the same wavelength as his team-mates.

Suarez notched four goals and three assists from 13 appearances in his first half-season at Liverpool. A decent, respectable enough return. But nothing like the numbers he’d later produce.

Jordan Henderson

One of the Fenway Group’s first major signings, Liverpool spent a then-still-considerable £20million to sign Henderson from his boyhood club Sunderland in 2011.

The midfielder’s debut season was so underwhelming that they tried to swap him for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey the following summer.

“I was in a very dark place at that time,” Henderson told The Guardian, recalling being informed by Brendan Rodgers that the club wanted him gone.

“It made us a lot stronger and a lot wiser later on and, without that, you never know what could have happened.

“So I really cherish them moments because you need setbacks, you need adversity. You get back up, and it makes you stronger because you want to prove people wrong.

“Ever since that day I had something in me. I needed to prove to the manager I would get in his team eventually. I’d do absolutely everything to be in his team, this football club, and I’d prove them wrong. In the end I did.”

There’s no questioning that. Liverpool’s skipper when they ended a thirty-year wait for the league title and won every major trophy going under Jurgen Klopp.

Andrew Robertson

One of the Premier League’s all-time great bargain signings, Robertson proved an absolutely inspired pick-up at just £8million from relegated Hull City in 2017.

Like Henderson, he’s won everything there is to win and nailed down an undisputed starting place in one of Liverpool’s greatest-ever teams.

But he didn’t hit the ground running. There was little wrong with Robertson’s early cameos, but he had to be patient.

In the first few months of the 2017-18, Klopp kept the faith in Alberto Moreno. Robertson served as his back-up and was often left out of matchday squads entirely. It was only an injury to the Spaniard that gave Robbo his chance.

“Obviously, as a result of my injury, [Robertson] has taken his chance and grabbed it with both hands,” Moreno said after getting back to fitness.

“But I’m training really hard now and determined to do all that I possibly can through hard work to try and win my place back.”

It’s fair to say who won that battle. Approaching 350 appearances for Liverpool, Robertson now finds himself in Moreno’s position way back when.

Fabinho

Still the three key pillars of Arne Slot’s team to this day, Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson have to go down as the best, most transformational signings of Liverpool’s modern era.

It’s easy to forget now, but for a time Fabinho was almost every bit as important in Klopp’s world-conquering core.

The Brazilian didn’t enjoy quite the same longevity, but he was just as much of a key cog in the trophy-laden golden years.

A title-winner at Monaco signed for a big-money £39million fee, Fabinho was much more of a high-profile addition than Robertson, who was originally seen as a squad-filler. But he had to be every bit as patient.

Fabinho spent the early weeks of his debut season on the bench, integrating slowly into the set-up. But come the spring, he’d nailed down his spot.

Liverpool won the Champions League that year and notched a 97-point tally. He was only a substitute in the Reds’ only Premier League defeat, the title-deciding 2-1 away to Man City.

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