Liverpool's recruitment strategy is admired these days for their ability to be proactive rather than reactive in the transfer market, sticking to a plan and being prepared to wait for the player they want to become available rather than settling for a fall-back option.
During the Jurgen Klopp era, this has been particularly prevalent, with this strategy enabling the German to construct a squad capable of challenging for the top prizes in England and Europe.
The consistency of this approach has elevated Liverpool's modern-day recruitment to its current level with the club channelling their ability to find and secure some of the world's best players before their rivals, breaking the bank on stars, some of which have been instrumental through their trophy-laden period.
Darwin Nunez (Benfica)
£85.6m
Virgil van Dijk (Southampton)
£76.2m
Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig)
£60m
Alisson Becker (AS Roma)
£56.3m
Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton)
£55m
All fees via Football Transfers.
When Alisson joined Liverpool he became the world's most expensive goalkeeper and Van Dijk smashed their transfer record, but both repaid their hefty price tags by forming the bedrock of the club's golden period.
While those two are examples of big-money deals paying dividends, scouring the globe for talent often comes with its pitfalls, as was the case when the Reds broke their club transfer record in 2004 to bring in French forward Djibril Cisse.
How much did Djibril Cisse cost Liverpool?
The Reds were assembling a squad capable of stars that ended up elevating them towards their Champions League triumph. Xabi Alonso arrived from Real Sociedad to form an instrumental partnership with Steven Gerrard in the engine room, silky winger Luis Garcia was snapped up from Barcelona and Djibril Cisse was prised away from Ligue 1 side Auxerre for £14m, a pretty penny 19 years ago.
The 23-year-old had been on Liverpool's radar for some time and this was hardly surprising given his compatriot, Gerard Houllier, was the man at the helm when he emerged as one of Europe's top striking talents.
Despite his tender age, the Frenchman was devastatingly plying his trade for Auxerre, smashing in a sensational 90 goals in 169 appearances before his Liverpool move, but it was in the 2001/02 season when he truly announced his name to the football world.
One of the finest goal-getters by his pace, power and nerveless finishing, Cisse finished as the Ligue 1's top scorer in that campaign with 22 goals from only 29 appearances to help Auxerre finish third and qualify for the Champions League.
With an already impressive CV to his name, Cisse's attributes were expected to flourish in the English game and become one of the league's destructive strikers.
How did Djibril Cisse perform at Liverpool?
After scoring 100 goals before the age of 23, Cisse's move to Liverpool was greeted with a hefty dose of excitement.
He had been targetted by Houllier but after joining found out that the man who engineered the transfer had been sacked and replaced by Rafa Benitez, a manager who labelled the striker as "fantastic".
While a change like that can do damage to a player's progress, it was a freak incident against Blackburn Rovers, in which Cisse broke his leg, that ultimately threatened to derail the career of a star who looked destined to reach the very top.
Despite missing large parts of his first season at Anfield, he did score a penalty in the 2005 shootout against AC Milan as the Reds scooped the Champions League in Istanbul, and the French prodigy experienced pure elation after a torrid campaign.
He started his next term on fire, scoring four goals in five Champions League qualifiers, but his most important goal of that campaign would come against West Ham in the 2006 FA Cup final, kickstarting their comeback.
What is Djibril Cisse doing now?
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the striker at Anfield, departing on loan to Marseille in the summer before leaving permanently the following year after scoring 24 goals in 79 appearances for the Reds.
Later on in his career after being sold for £6m to Marseille, Cisse would turn out for Premier League sides Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers before announcing his full retirement from the sport in 2018.
Now 42-years-old and enjoying life as a worldwide DJ, Cisse has devoted his passion from scoring goals to playing sets across the globe.
