Being a pedant here, but that's 10 out of 25 wrong (some are open to debate), the jury is still out on some players who've performed well and we know have alot more in them - Manquillo, Moreno, Lallana. It's too early to say with the likes of Lovren and Markovic. I've heard you (Ryan) big up Lovren, Lallana, Borini and even Alberto (to a lesser degree) at some point. It's far too early to say with many of them. I think the most obvious failures are Aspas, the three loanees - Cissokho, Moses and Sahin, and of course Balotelli (who has yet to play alongside Sturridge). There's too many ifs and buts to decided either way.
His record is sketchy yeah, but there are alot of young players in there with time on their side.
This is Rafa's list:
PlayerFromFeeDate
Josemi Malaga £2,000,000 26 July 2004
Antonio Nunez Real Madrid £1,500,000 17 August 2004
Xabi Alonso Real Sociedad £10,700,000 20 August 2004
Luis Garcia Barcelona £6,000,000 20 August 2004
Mauricio Pellegrino Valencia Free 5 January 2005
Fernando Morientes Real Madrid £6,300,000 13 January 2005
Scott Carson Leeds £1,000,000 21 January 2005
Boudewijn Zenden Free Transfer Free 4 July 2005
Pepe Reina Villarreal £6,000,000 4 July 2005
Antonio Barragan Sevilla £240,000 4 July 2005
Momo Sissoko Valencia £5,600,000 14 July 2005
Peter Crouch Southampton £7,000,000 20 July 2005
Miki Roque Lleidav Unknown 15 August 2005
Jack Hobbs Lincoln £150,000 18 August 2005
Besian Idrizaj LASK Linz £190,000 22 August 2005
Mark Gonzalez Albacete £1,500,000 20 October 2005
Paul Anderson Hull Swap 1 January 2006
Jan Kromkamp Villarreal Swap 4 January 2006
David Martin MK Dons £250,000 12 January 2006
Daniel Agger Brondby £5,800,000 12 January 2006
Robbie Fowler Man City Free 27 January 2006
Craig Bellamy Blackburn £6,000,000 1 July 2006
Gabriel Paletta Banfield £2,000,000 4 July 2006
Fabio Aurelio Valencia Free 5 July 2006
Jermaine Pennant Birmingham £6,700,000 26 July 2006
Dirk Kuyt Feyenoord £9,000,000 18 August 2006
Nabil El Zhar St Etienne £200,000 21 August 2006
Astrit Ajdarevic Falkenberg £750,000 11 January 2007
Daniele Padelli Sampdoria Loan 12 January 2007
Jordy Brouwer Ajax Undisclosed 24 January 2007
Francisco Manuel Duran Malaga £66,000 30 January 2007
Alvaro Arbeloa Deportivo £2,500,000 31 January 2007
Javier Mascherano West Ham Loan 20 February 2007
Lucas Gremio £5,000,000 11 May 2007
Krisztian Nemeth MTK Hungaria Undisclosed 25 May 2007
Mikel San Jose Athletic Bilbao £270,000 28 June 2007
Sebastian Leto Lanús £1,800,000 1 July 2007
Fernando Torres Atletico Madrid £20,200,000 4 July 2007
Andriy Voronin Leverkusen Free 6 July 2007
Yossi Benayoun West Ham £5,000,000 12 July 2007
Ryan Babel Ajax £11,500,000 13 July 2007
Charles Itandje Lens Undisclosed 9 August 2007
Emiliano Insua Boca Juniors £1,300,000 26 August 2007
Lauri Dalla Valle JIPPO £600,000 8 November 2007
Martin Skrtel Zenit St Petersburg £6,500,000 11 January 2008
Javier Mascherano Media Sports Investment £18,600,000 29 February 2008
Philipp Degen Borussia Dortmund Free 3 July 2008
Andrea Dossena Udinese £7,000,000 4 July 2008
Diego Cavalieri Palmeiras £3,500,000 11 July 2008
David N'Gog Paris St Germain £1,500,000 24 July 2008
Robbie Keane Tottenham £19,000,000 28 July 2008
Albert Riera Espanyol £8,000,000 31 August 2008
Glen Johnson Portsmouth £17,500,000 26 June 2009
Alberto Aquilani Roma £17,100,000 7 August 2009
Sotirios Kyrgiakos AEK Athens £2,000,000 21 August 2009
Daniel Ayala Sevilla £160,000 17 September 2009
Maxi Rodriguez Atletico Madrid Free 12 January 2010
Raheem Sterling Queens Park Rangers £600,000 27 February 2010
Jonjo Shelvey Charlton £1,700,000 10 May 2010
Milan Jovanovic Standard Liege Free 8 July 2010