Transfer front-runners: Liverpool learning from last season's mistakes

The more romantically inclined might like to paint it as football’s Motorcycle Diaries. A journey of enlightenment across South America to rival Che Guevara’s fateful travels in 1952, as a young doctor was transformed into a revolutionary who changed the world.

The appealing comparison falls down on the fact that Ian Ayre probably hasn’t been traversing the continent on the beloved chopper he was filmed riding during ‘Being: Liverpool’ – jets are more likely the favoured mode of transport for Premier League powerbrokers.

But still, there’s a good argument Ayre has been the busiest man in football this summer. He concluded a £29 million deal for Robero Firmino on Wednesday, handing the Brazilian playmaker his Liverpool shirt personally in Santiago, Chile, and is also said to be holding talks over Colombia striker Carlos Bacca and Venezuela’s Salomon Rondon while the Copa America continues.

Liverpool’s work in South America is being outstripped by their manoeuvres at home though. Thursday saw the news leaked that Southampton had accepted a £12.5m offer for Nathaniel Clyne, who if he does sign will become Liverpool’s sixth summer signing already, only a week since the fixture list was announced for the new season.

Goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, defender Joe Gomez, midfielder James Milner and striker Danny Ings are the other products of a remarkably fruitful summer’s work for Liverpool’s much derided transfer committee. If it remains to be seen whether they have improved on the hit-rate of last season, which saw more flops than an Olympic high jump competition, but they’ve certainly learnt one lesson.

Discussing his plans for the summer in May, Rodgers said “For us it is really analysing this year in terms of all the plans, all the changes that took place last year, review that, how can we be better equipped to move forward and challenge. That will be the review.”

Delve past the usual management-speak and the overriding issue will surely have been the faulty strategy for replacing Luis Suarez, who did not leave the club until July 16. That set Liverpool back a few weeks and their signings went as follows: Rickie Lambert (June 2), Adam Lallana (July 1), Emre Can (July 3), Lazar Markovic (July 15), Dejan Lovren (July 27), Alberto Moreno (August 16), Mario Balotelli (August 25).

Half of those names were not in place before the start of pre-season on July 16 – a friendly against Brondby. Not an unusual state of affairs for Premier League clubs – who have a masochistic love for transfer deadline day - but hardly an advantageous situation after the loss of your best player and your subsequent attempts to reconfigure your team.

Just as Erik Thorstvedt’s famous claim that Spurs had “sold Elvis and bought The Beatles” after losing Gareth Bale to Real Madrid was made to look rather silly, so Liverpool proved unable to replace their own iconic forward, despite throwing money at an array of players. Their start to the season was duly wretched, winning only two of their first nine games in all competitions.

At least this year, Liverpool knew the nature of their defining departure as early as January 2 thanks to Steven Gerrard’s announcement he would be leaving the club. Things have been rather less turbulent on Merseyside and in Firmino they already have the kind of marquee signing that failed to materialise during last summer’s £110m spree.

Historically, Liverpool have struggled to sign this kind of player. Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa and Willian are among those Premier League talents to have turned down the lesser riches of Anfield in recent seasons. Memphis Depay did so again this summer. But Ayre has seemingly come up trumps with Firmino. A fantastically talented player in the bag before the start of Wimbledon.

Ayre has not always been easy to tolerate or admire. But like Che all those years ago, maybe a summer's trip to Chile will be the making of him.