Raul Meireles, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso all have one thing in common – they have all been sold in the summer transfer window, but there is a more striking resemblance.

This resemblance would be, that Liverpool FC never replaced them properly upon their respective departures. So, let me show you the basic comparisons between their replacements and the original players.

Xabi Alonso, was meant to be replaced by Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani. Instead, he had a very short stint at Liverpool because of his injuries and his inability to fit into the system in English football. In all honesty, the 30 million pounds was a fair enough deal, but it showed Liverpool FC’s lack of planning for his departure – they didn’t have a proper eye on who could be the short term fix for the Spaniard.

Javier Mascherano, you could say that he was meant to be replaced by Lucas Leiva. The Brazilian struggled in the role initially, but he took a season to gain the respect that Mascherano initially had with the Merseyside outfit. Liverpool didn’t have a proper central defensive midfielder to replace the hole that Mascherano left behind – hence causing a terrible start to Roy Hodgson’s tenure with Liverpool FC – eventually leading up to his sacking in January.

And now Raul Meireles, the player that was bought with some of that Mascherano money when Hodgson was still in charge. Provided creativity in an otherwise lackluster season for the Liverpool FC midfield. Provided important goals and was dominating in the center of the park. Left for 13 million pounds, citing ‘false promises’ made by Liverpool FC – essentially breaking their supposed promise of raising his salary should he impress in his debut season for the Reds.

All I have to say is I had one promise at Liverpool which wasn’t fulfilled. Liverpool asked me to hand in a transfer request, that’s normal.

Raul Meireles

Meireles was the man that I think was missing in a disappointing season for Liverpool FC. He was really missed by Liverpool as the likes of Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam failed to make an impact with the Reds. The thing about Liverpool’s midfield in this past campaign showed was that it was frail. Lucas’ injury ruined a lot of things for the Reds, whilst the new signings were relatively unproven – although they came with huge price tags.

It almost brings about the question as to why Henderson was brought in this summer apart of having age on his side. 20 million pounds for Hendo, 13 million pounds for Meireles, I personally think that having Meireles around for one more season and waiting on Henderson’s development at Sunderland would have been a better option for Liverpool. I would doubt that his value would have gone any higher than that if one season was given.

But now the question is, who will replace Kenny Dalglish? Making the wrong decision could send Liverpool into free fall, and making the right one could propel them to a potential 4th placed finish next season. But then again, I ask the question, why did Liverpool sack Kenny Dalglish before actually identifying potential replacements for the Scotsman?

It has been something exercised by Chelsea, Manchester United (planning for post-Fergie era, they have had discussions deciding who should replace the Scotsman) and even Barcelona (who immediately decided that Pep Guardiola’s number 2, Tito would take the job). The saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t apply here. Kenny Dalglish’s transfers were extravagant and largely unsuccessful, whilst the results were poor as well.

Furthermore, Liverpool lacked the direction that Kenny offered towards the home stretch of the 2010/11 campaign. The team have been almost predictable in a lot of the matches – keeping all the possession and taking all the shots before the opponent takes their first and take home the 3 points. It was simply not rosy for the Reds.

But my question is related to the three above transfers. Why didn’t we identify someone before? If this keeps on going every year, we’ll just keep going forwards and backwards.