{"id":628356,"date":"2026-08-09T09:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T09:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/628356\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T09:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T09:14:13","slug":"liverpool-loan-signings-ranked-araujo-another-mascherano-or-arthur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/628356\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool loan signings ranked: Araujo another Mascherano or Arthur?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Ronald Araujo set to become Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s 12th loan signing since 2000, we\u2019ve ranked the 11 previous players borrowed by the Reds\u2026<\/p>\n

It makes for some harrowing reading.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s record in the loan market is poor, with only one sure-fire hit. Even the one other player who was a success is remembered as an error when the Reds chose not to sign him permanently.<\/p>\n

So, with Araujo heading for Merseyside this weekend<\/a><\/strong>, here is how his loanee predecessors are ranked\u2026<\/p>\n

11) Arthur Melo \u2013 from Juventus, 2022<\/p>\n

One half of the entirely legitimate swap deal that saw Arthur join Juve from Barcelona in 2020 for a reported initial fee of \u00a366million, the Brazilian midfielder was loaned out by the Old Lady to Liverpool on deadline day in summer 2022.<\/p>\n

He played a total of 13 minutes for the Reds in a 4-1 Champions League defeat to Napoli.<\/p>\n

Sure, Arthur was unfortunate with injuries but Liverpool paid almost \u00a34million in loan fees for not a single appearance in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

10) Steven Caulker \u2013 from QPR, 2016<\/p>\n

Jurgen Klopp\u2019s first Liverpool signing was probably his strangest\u2026<\/p>\n

Caulker was on loan at Southampton from QPR during the first half of 2015-16, an arrangement that was terminated to allow the once-capped England defender to move to Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls,\u201d Klopp explained. \u201cIf they play long balls, you need people in the last line who can help you with headers and we\u2019ve found it with Steven Caulker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Caulker was used more as an emergency striker. Three of his four appearances came off the bench, thrown up top by a desperate Klopp. He joined for the second half of the season but was never seen again after January before being returned to QPR while we all wondered what the f*** Liverpool were thinking.<\/p>\n

9) Daniele Padelli \u2013 from Sampdoria, 2007<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good young goalkeeper who has been selected for his national side,\u201d said Rafa Benitez when asked to introduce his new loan signing in Januaru 2007. \u201cPadelli will give us a good option for the future. The fact he is once again with the Under-21s for his national side tells you that we are signing a very good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only, that was his only Italy Under-21 cap. Seemingly for good reason if his one and only \u2018shaky\u2019 Liverpool appearance on the final day of the season \u2013 a 2-2 draw with Charlton \u2013 was any measure. Padelli was returned to Sampdoria and went on to have a long career but largely as a stand-in.<\/p>\n

8) Nuri Sahin \u2013 from Real Madrid, 2012<\/p>\n

Huge things were expected of Sahin when he moved from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid in 2011 on a six-year deal, but he managed only 10 appearances in all competitions at the Bernabeu.<\/p>\n

He went two better at Anfield for Rodgers, scoring three goals in a dozen games after joining on loan at the start of the 2012-13 season. But Sahin was little more happy at Liverpool than he was in Madrid, especially while Rodgers insisted on playing him out of position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not fail at Liverpool,\u201d he insisted shortly after his Reds loan was terminated to allow him to return to Dortmund. \u201cBrendan Rodgers wanted me to play as a number 10. But I do not play behind the strikers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not my real position. Still, no regrets. To play at Anfield was a wonderful experience. And maybe if I had not gone there I would not have been able to return to Borussia Dortmund. For that, I am happy. Thank God I have left Brendan Rodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n

7) Paul Jones \u2013 from Southampton,\u00a0 2004<\/p>\n

A nice story, this, if inconsequential for anyone outside the Jones family\u2026<\/p>\n

Gerard Houllier was already without Chris Kirkland when\u00a0Jerzy Dudek was crocked too. So Liverpool went to Southampton to borrow the out-of-favour 36-year-old, who jumped at the chance to join his boyhood club for a month rather than move permanently to Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

Jones became the Reds\u2019 oldest post-war debutant in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa, then featured in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham, before Dudek returned and Jones was sent back to Saints having accomplished a lifelong dream to play for the Reds.<\/p>\n

6) Javier Manquillo \u2013 from Atletico Madrid, 2014<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Spanish right-back was Rodgers\u2019 seventh summer signing in 2014 and arrived for a two-season stint at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Manquillo seemed a steady presence in defence but never featured in the Premier League after December of his first and only season, his prospects largely scuppered when Rodgers switched formation to three-at-the-back. So Atletico took him back a year ahead of schedule when Liverpool signed Nathaniel Clyne in 2015.<\/p>\n

5) Ozan Kabak \u2013 from Schalke, 2021<\/p>\n

After Caulker, Klopp went five more years before making a loan signing. And even then, he probably wished he hadn\u2019t bothered.<\/p>\n

By January 2021, Klopp had already lost Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, so on deadline day, Liverpool bough Ben Davies from Preston for \u00a31.6million, and signed Kabak on loan from struggling Schalke with the option to buy for \u00a318million.<\/p>\n

That was never going to happen. Kabak actually performed better for Liverpool than he did at Norwich the following season, but nowhere near good enough to earn a permanent deal.<\/p>\n

4) Aly Cissokho \u2013 from Valencia, 2013<\/p>\n

Liverpool signed Cissokho on a season-long loan in August 2013 when Granada changed the terms of a permanent deal for Guilherme Siqueira.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman almost took a Premier League title winner\u2019s medal back to Spain with him, despite spending most of the campaign as back up to Jon Flanagan.<\/p>\n

Cissokho never looked good enough for Liverpool, and barely up to standard for a poor Aston Villa, who saw enough in his season at Anfield to sign him permanently from Valencia.<\/p>\n

3) Victor Moses \u2013 from Chelsea, 2013<\/p>\n

Three years and three loan moves before Antonio Conte turned Moses into a flying wing-back, the Nigeria international was out of favour at Stamford Bridge just a season after signing from Wigan.<\/p>\n

He fared little better at Anfield as a late-window loanee, kept out of Rodgers\u2019 team by Raheem Sterling.<\/p>\n

Moses played 19 games as Liverpool went so close to the title, but only six times as a starter.<\/p>\n

2) Nicolas Anelka \u2013 from PSG, 2001<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is no risk. This is a fantastic deal, I\u2019m convinced, for him and for us,\u201d said Houllier when he borrowed Anelka off PSG in December 2001. \u201cI know what has been said about him and I don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anelka arrived back in the Premier League with a tarnished reputation owing to his acrimonious Arsenal exit. But Houllier had worked with the striker previously, and his optimism around loaning the 22-year-old France international was well-founded.<\/p>\n

Which made the decision not to sign him permanently in favour of buying El-Hadji Diouf all the more weird.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery club makes mistakes in the transfer market and we made one when we didn\u2019t sign Anelka,\u201d admitted Steven Gerrard later. \u201cNicolas was top class for us and I thought he\u2019d done enough to stay. He was a good lad around the dressing room as well\u2026 I don\u2019t think anyone will deny we got that one wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

1) Javier Mascherano \u2013 from MSI, 2007<\/p>\n

The Argentina midfielder arrived at Anfield in February 2007 on an 18-month loan, which the Reds assumed would give them time to unpick the tangled mess around him\u2026<\/p>\n

Mascherano\u2019s ownership rights\u00a0 \u2013 Carlos Tevez\u2019s too \u2013 belonged to MSI, the pair\u2019s spell at\u00a0 West Ham proving a huge headache for the Premier League.<\/p>\n

On the pitch, though, Mascherano quickly became a key player for Liverpool, freeing up Steven Gerrard in Benitez\u2019s midfield. While still on loan, the manager accurately described his midfielder as a \u201cmonster of a player\u201d.<\/p>\n

After a period of limbo, Liverpool eventually paid MSI \u00a318.6million but Mascherano was well worth the money and the hassle. He stayed until fighting to join Barcelona in 2010<\/a><\/strong>, when Liverpool got almost all their money back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Ronald Araujo set to become Liverpool\u2019s 12th loan signing since 2000, we\u2019ve ranked the 11 previous players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,1322,13,14,793,6,794,19,17,11,12,1009,15,16,5,265216,7,8],"class_list":["post-628356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-f365-features","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-front-page","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-liverpool","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-ronald-araujo","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117064791936886184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}