The summer of 2007 was a busy one for Liverpool as, having reached their second Champions League final in three years under Rafa Benitez, new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett marked their first transfer window at Anfield by sanctioning a £50m spending spree.
Fernando Torres was the most famous signing for the Reds that summer, joining for a then club-record £26.5m from Atletico Madrid, while Ryan Babel (£11.5m), Lucas Leiva (£6m) and Yossi Benayoun (£5m) also joined from Ajax, Gremio and West Ham United respectively. The quartet would all make a positive impact at Anfield, but it was a different story for the rest of Benitez’s eight summer signings that year.
Charles Itandje signed in a £1.4m deal from Lens, Damien Plessis was snapped up for an undisclosed fee from Lyon and Andriy Voronin joined on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen. Yet the most curious transfer was one that had actually been agreed under the watch of former owner David Moores back in January 2007, as the Reds snapped up winger Sebastian Leto from Lanus in an £1.87m deal after fighting off competition from River Plate, Real Betis and Racing Club.
