Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net

Florian Wirtz is unveiled as a Liverpool player(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Florian Wirtz becomes the 10th player to break Liverpool's transfer record in the Premier League era.

Liverpool have generally spent well over the last decade thanks to an exhaustive, no-stone-unturned approach in the recruitment department.

From an industry-leading analytics team through to thorough background and personality checks on those coming through the door, the people tasked with signing players have rarely put a foot wrong since the summer of 2015.



READ MORE:What Jurgen Klopp and Xabi Alonso said about Florian Wirtz speaks volumes after £116m Liverpool transferREAD MORE:Florian Wirtz sent emotional message after £116m Liverpool transfer - 'I don't want to write this'

But it hasn't always been that way at Anfield and there are some whose place in transfer history on Merseyside is more ignominious than others.

Here, the ECHO takes a look back at those players who broke the mould since the Premier League's 1992 inception and rated their efforts.

Liverpool broke their club record by £700,000 in 1994 when Ireland international Phil Babb joined from Coventry City for £3.6m after he had handed in a formal transfer request at Highfield Road.

Article continues below

Brought in alongside £3.5m John Scales after starring at the 1994 World Cup for Jack Charlton's Ireland, Babb was supposed to transform the fortunes of the Reds' backline under Roy Evans.

"We've said we will go out to buy the best and we're committed to doing that," said Evans at the time.

Ouch.

Rating: Was not the missing piece of the defensive jigsaw 5/10.

Stan Collymore broke the British record when the Reds landed him from Nottingham Forest for £8.5m in the summer of 1995.

Collymore had established himself as one of the most dynamic strikers in the top flight before he joined the Reds, where he quickly struck up a promising partnership with Robbie Fowler.

Thirty-five goals in 81 appearances was a respectable return but he failed to hit the heights that had been envisioned when the Reds broke the bank for him.

Collymore told the ECHO this week: "When I get mentioned, a lot of Liverpool writers say: 'Ah we could have seen a lot more.' But I played 80 games and 51 goals involvements as they would now be termed.

"So 30-something goals over the two seasons and 16 direct assists for Robbie Fowler, so if you're looking at goal involvements and the mark of excellence is sort of one in every other game, 51 goal involvements in 80 ain't bad."

The emergence of Michael Owen meant Collymore only stayed two years, joining Aston Villa in 1997 for around £7m.

Rating: 'Collymore closing in' is an iconic moment but lack of silverware and relatively short career makes this a dud.

"This shows they were all wrong."

The powerful frontman scored 60 goals in 233 appearances and saw the best period of his time at Anfield arrive, like many others, in the 2000/2001 term when Houllier's side won a treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup before qualifying for the Champions League.

Twenty-two goals that term is proof of Heskey's Anfield zenith but that was the only time he registered more than double figures (14) in the league, which lays bare the absence of a prolific streak that is often a prerequisite to lead the line at Anfield.

Rating: Played a considerable part in a famous season but was not a natural goalscorer like so many others who've shone at Liverpool.

6/10.

Djibril Cisse never got to play for the manager who signed him in Gerard Houllier and while Rafa Benitez did the diplomatic thing by suggesting he would have signed him anyway had he been Reds boss a year earlier, the French striker never quite justified the hype, the fee or the wait.

Electric pace was so often undercut by wasteful and panicked finishing and while a debut goal arrived at Tottenham in August 2004, the flamboyant and likable Frenchman is perhaps best remembered for a horrendous leg break during his time.

Arriving in a game at Blackburn just months into his first season, Cisse returned to action as the Reds chased Champions League glory later in the campaign and while he played a bit-part role in that eventual triumph, his big-money fee betrayed his status within the squad under Benitez.

A goal in a successful FA Cup final against West Ham United in 2006 will always be remembered, even if the game itself initially conjured images of Steven Gerrard's heroics at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

6/10.

It would be three years before Liverpool broke their transfer record once more, this time for Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid.
For more news relating to Spurs, visit our sister site Spurs Latest Live.