Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool are currently competing with rivals Arsenal and Manchester City to secure their second title of the Premier League era.
The Reds, who have won the top-flight and the Champions League under the German boss, have established themselves as regular competitors for major trophies in recent times.
Exceptional recruitment has underpinned their success on the pitch, as the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Alisson, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino, among many others, were all brought in to play key roles for the English giants.
Prior to Klopp's arrival in 2015, Liverpool did not always have the best success rate when it came to bringing in new big-money signings to bolster the squad.
One addition that turned out to be a poor piece of business was the move to bring Serbian winger Lazar Markovic to the club – for more than they paid for Philippe Coutinho in 2013 – in the summer of 2014.
The fee Liverpool paid for Lazar Markovic
The Reds swooped to sign the forward from Portuguese giants Benfica for a reported fee of £20m on a long-term contract ahead of the 2014/15 campaign.
20 at the time, Markovic arrived off the back of a strong season in Portugal given his young age. He had racked up seven goals and five assists in 49 appearances in all competitions, which included five goals and five assists in 26 league matches.
Then-manager Brendan Rodgers provided the young whiz with plenty of opportunities to impress throughout the 2014/15 campaign, as the Serbian attacker played 19 times in the Premier League, and started 11 of those games.
In those 19 appearances, the £20m signing produced just two goals and one assist for Liverpool. He also produced one goal and zero assists in 15 outings across the domestic and European cup competitions.
This meant that the former Benfica star ended his first season in England with just three goals and one assist in 34 outings for the Reds under Rodgers, which was a return of one goal or assist every 8.5 clashes on average.
His lacklustre level of production in the final third throughout the 2014/15 campaign for the Northern Irish head coach resulted in him being sent out on loan to several different clubs before Liverpool allowed him to join Fulham on a free transfer in January 2019.
How much Lazar Markovic rinsed Liverpool for
Per Capology, Markovic earned roughly £3.8m-per-season during his time at Anfield. However, his loan spells meant that the Reds only paid that in full for around 18 months.
They shelled out £3.8m to him for the 2014/15 season and then roughly £1.9m during the first half of the 2016/17 campaign before Hull City took on his wages for the second half of that term.
It is unclear exactly how much Sporting, Fenerbahce, and Anderlecht contributed to his wages during his time at those clubs on loan before his exit in 2019.
This means that FSG rinsed £25.7m down the drain on Markovic as he earned a minimum of £5.7m in wages on top of the £20m fee that was paid to Benfica to secure his signature.
There was little evidence from his loan moves to suggest that he deserved a chance to redeem himself at Liverpool, as the attacker failed to score more than two league goals for Hull, Sporting, Fenerbahce, or Anderlecht.
His poor form in front of goal across those various loan spells also meant that the Reds had little chance of being able to recoup any of the £25.7m they wasted on him, which is why they ultimately allowed him to join the Cottagers on a free transfer.
This meant that the Premier League giants did not offset any of the money spent on the forward by bringing in money for his services, as they let him go for nothing.
Since then, Markovic has spent the majority of his time in Serbia – with Partizan – and Turkey – with his current club Gaziantep. He has produced two goals and four assists in 25 Super Lig appearances so far this season.
The Serbia international playing in Turkey – outside of Europe's five major leagues – at the age of 30 illustrates how far his stock has fallen since being signed for £20m as a promising youngster in 2014.
It also highlights how it is not always about how much you spend, particularly when you compare it to the signing of Coutinho the previous year.
How much Liverpool paid to sign Philippe Coutinho
The Reds decided to swoop for the Brazilian magician in January of 2013 to bolster their attacking options. They reportedly spent just £8.5m to sign the young whiz from Inter, who was also of interest to fellow Premier League side Southampton.
Liverpool, therefore, splashed out £11.5m less in transfer fees to sign Coutinho than they did when they moved for Markovic from Benfica 18 months later.
It is fair to say that the Merseyside-based outfit got far more value for money out of the former Serie A starlet than they did the Serbian winger.
The Brazil international went on to rack up 201 appearances for the Reds in all competitions, and produced 54 goals and 47 assists from an attacking midfield or wide position.
2012/13
13
3
7
2013/14
33
5
7
2014/15
35
5
5
2015/16
26
8
5
2016/17
31
13
7
2017/18
14
7
6
As you can see in the table above, Coutinho provided a threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals, and his best full campaign came during the 2016/17 term with 20 direct goal contributions in 31 outings in the Premier League.
His sublime form on the pitch also allowed Liverpool to make a gargantuan profit on the silky wizard as they sold him to Barcelona for a mouth-watering £146m in January 2018.
This meant that the Reds sold him for £137.5m more than they paid for him five years earlier, which illustrates how successful the signing was for the Reds.
Compare that to Markovic, who left for £0 after being signed for £20m, and you can see that the Serbia international rinsed FSG during his time in England, given how little he contributed – financially and on the pitch – in comparison to Coutinho.