Damien Comolli defends Kenny Dalglish's transfer record at Liverpool

Former director of football says mistakes were always likely to be made during £110m spending spree

Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam, both of whom have departed Liverpool (GETTY IMAGES)

Kenny Dalglish's spending record in his second spell as Liverpool manager has been defended by the Red's former director of football Damien Comolli.

During Dalglish's time at the Anfield helm he spent in the region of £110m on players.

Among them were Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, who reportedly cost £35m, £23m, £16m, £9m and £20m respectively.

Yet of that group, only Luis Suarez has proved money well spent.

Carroll has been loaned to West Ham and Adam sold to Stoke. Henderson has begun to show signs that he could figure prominently in the future, but Downing's Anfield career does not look likely to last much longer.

Despite such a poor return on the investment, with Liverpool looking no nearer a team ready for a return to the Champions League, Comolli has defended his and Dalglish's purchases.

"We did 26 deals and to think we wouldn’t make any mistakes in such a huge number of deals in and out would be totally unrealistic," he told the Daily Express.

"I do not think we made any mistakes on the players going out and whether we made mistakes on the players who came in, time will tell. I am very uncomfortable for players to be judged after six, eight or even 12 months. Sometimes it takes two or three years.

"In two or three years you can say, ‘Damien and Kenny, you were wrong’. Or you can say, 'They just needed time'."

The £35m deal for Carroll raised most eyebrows, with many in disbelief that Liverpool would pay so much for the Newcastle youngster who had such limited experience at the top level. Those critics appear to have been proved right judging by his lack of goals in a Red shirt and the decision by new manager Brendan Rodgers to allow him to leave on loan.

However, Comolli says the deal for the England striker must be considered within the bigger picture.

"If you want to talk about the Carroll deal, the situation was quite clear.

"The way we looked at it, we were selling two players – Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel – and we were bringing two in – Suarez and Carroll – and we were making a profit and the wage bill was coming down considerably as well. It was a four-player deal.

"Chelsea kept bidding higher and higher for Torres. The difference between their first and final bid is double.

"They [FSG] asked me what the risks were and I said if things don’t go well you’ll lose something on Andy, but it is difficult to measure whether you will make money if things go well because Liverpool aren’t a selling club and he could be here for the next 10 years."

Liverpool are preparing to invest in players again this January, with Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge and Arsenal's Theo Walcott reportedly among their chief targets. Those in charge at Anfield will be hoping any new arrivals prove better value for money.