Liverpool came so close to Premier League glory during the 2013/14 season, embarking on their best campaign in years, only to be unstuck by a poor collapse over the final few weeks.
Despite this, the future looked promising. Players such as Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling had all shone under Brendan Rodgers, and although they sold Luis Suárez to Barcelona for a fee of £75m, the Northern Irishman was aiming to kick on and lead his team to glory.
With the mercurial Uruguayan gone, Rodgers looked to spend the vast fortune obtained from his sale in the transfer market.
He spent big on the likes of Mario Balotelli, Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic and Dejan Lovren, and it didn’t take long for the Anfield side to unravel as they struggled both domestically and in the Champions League, where they returned following a four-year absence.
There was another name who arrived at Merseyside that summer who looked like he had a bright future – Alberto Moreno.
How much did Liverpool sign Alberto Moreno for?
For what seemed like a bargain at just £12m, the talented Spaniard arrived on Merseyside towards the end of that transfer window with the opportunity to become the first-choice left-back at the club and aged just 22, Moreno looked like he would be a long term star for the Reds.
Rodgers lavished praise upon him once he arrived, saying: "He has got huge potential.
"We needed a left-sided player. We monitored him for a while and when we felt we got the value and the worth, we were able to clinch the deal.
"He's a really exciting young player. When you watch him, he's very attack-minded, very quick and he serves the ball really well.
"At 22, he's hungry to succeed. He has got improvements to make but he's one of the players we've brought in this summer who is ready to play straight away.”
High praise indeed and the future certainly looked bright for a youngster who was beginning to make his mark at international level, having made three appearances for Spain prior to moving to England.
The move simply didn’t work out, however, as Liverpool failed to bring the best out of Moreno, and he subsequently went on to rinse them of a vast sum of money during his time at the club.
How much did Alberto Moreno earn at Liverpool?
During his five-season spell at Anfield, the Spaniard earned a total of £16.9m in wages with his weekly wage ranging from £48k-per-week during his first season, to £73k-per-week during his final campaign.
Judging by his performances and relative lack of success at the Reds, his signing is looked back upon as a big failure and a case of what might’ve been for the defender who spent 250 weeks in England.
Indeed, across his five years in England, Moreno drained the club of £29m across several years, combining both his transfer fee in 2014 with the cost of his wages during that time period.
It was yet again another case of poor transfer business by Rodgers the summer after they had come so close to Premier League glory.
Did Alberto Moreno deserve to earn that much at Liverpool?
The left-back made 41 appearances for the club across his first season, scoring two goals and grabbing an assist, although he was criticised by ESPN journalist James Tyler, who said he was “dreadful” towards the end of that campaign.
Six assists and a goal were registered during the 2015/16 season as Moreno made 50 appearances, and it looked as though he had the trust placed in him by Klopp during the embryonic stages of his tenure at the club.
He helped Liverpool reach the Europa League final, where they were defeated by his former side Sevilla, but with a new era on the horizon, Moreno looked set to play a big part in the Reds challenge for glory in the coming years.
It proved to be a false dawn however, as the Spaniard started just twice in the Premier League during Klopp’s first full season in charge, failing to rank in the top ten across the squad for accurate passes per game, successful dribbles per game or tackles per match.
The next two seasons saw him fail to kick on and attain a regular spot on the starting XI, making just 18 league appearances during 2017/18 and 2018/19, and ranking outside the top ten in the squad for overall Sofascore rating, indicating that when he did get a rare opportunity, Moreno failed to really grab it with both hands.
The former Sevilla defender did win a Champions League winners medal, yet he made just one appearance during the whole tournament and failed to emerge from the bench in the final.
In total, his 141 appearances meant he cost the best part of £205k per game, while his meagre goal tally of three ensures he cost the Anfield side £9m for every time he found the net.
Where is Alberto Moreno now?
Upon his release from Liverpool following that triumph in Madrid, Moreno returned to his homeland, joining La Liga side Villarreal on a free transfer that summer.
The left-back has been given a lifeline by the Spanish club, making 93 appearances across his four years while also scoring six times and registering seven assists, certainly better numbers than when he was in England.
Moreno also won another Europa League title, helping his side defeat Manchester United in the final back in 2021.
It didn’t work out at Liverpool for the player who looked like he could be the next big talent to emerge from Spain nine years ago.
Perhaps it was the right player at the wrong time, yet Moreno didn’t really hit the ground running at Anfield and although signs looked promising once Klopp arrived, the signing of Andy Robertson put bed to him claiming a regular spot in the starting XI.
Rodgers did make some terrible signings as manager between 2012 and 2015, but Moreno is sadly up there as one of the worst when you consider the finances.
Klopp has made far fewer mistakes in the transfer market than his predecessor and this not only has helped their bank balance, but also performances on the field, with the club returning to prominence for the first time since the 1980s under the enigmatic former Borussia Dortmund manager.