During the 1990s and early 2000s, the Reds' achilles heel had always been the lack of a top class left winger. Since age had caught up with John Barnes and he'd moved more central there had been nobody of note out there. Cue the arrival of Kewell, who many felt was going to be sensational, and the final piece in Houllier's potential title-winning jigsaw. He had been the star man in a young, exciting Leeds United side, and his move was met with elation by almost everyone associated with Liverpool. What followed, however, was the best example of a player failing to fulfil their vast potential as you can find. He looked a shadow of his former self almost from day one, and having been given the highly regarded number seven shirt at Anfield he just didn't do it justice. His first season was far far disastrous, in fairness, with the winger scoring 11 goals in 49 games- a respectable return- but he was not impressive. The 2004/05 campaign was awful, however. He found the net just once all season, and he limped out of the Champions League final early on having done nothing to affect the game. Liverpool's unrivalled comeback against Milan in Istanbul will forever go down in history, but Kewell's ineffective evening rather summed up his whole Reds career. Despite the odd good goal and promising display in 2005/06, Kewell still had nowhere near the pace, confidence and influence he had in his Leeds days, and the fact he was still just in his mid to late 20s showed that age had nothing to do with it. Injury saw him leave the 2006 FA Cup final prematurely, as he missed out on playing a pivotal role in another huge game. Kewell then missed almost a year of football though injury, returning in April 2007, but he'd lost even more of an edge to his game by this point. He played just 10 league games in 2007/08, before sealing a move to Galatasaray at the end of that season. He had been an unbelievable disappointment on Merseyside, and finished with just 16 goals in 139 appearances. Which Liverpool player do you think most failed to fulfil their potential at the club?
