Is Sami Hyypia Liverpool’s Greatest Ever Signing?
With Sami Hyypia bringing his Bayer Leverkusen side to Anfield to take on Liverpool today I began to wonder, is Sami Hyypiä Liverpool’s greatest ever transfer success?
The Finn signed for The Reds from Willem II for a fee of £2.6 million in 1999 and went on to make 463 appearances, scoring 35 goals. The arrival was originally greeted by confusion around Anfield as many fans simply did not know who Hyypiä was.
Gerard Houllier made a number of signings that summer, most of whom overshadowed the signing of the big Finn, such as the £8 million Didi Hamann, the explosive Titi Camara, and commanding Swiss defender, Stephane Henchoz. During Hyypiä’s Liverpool career he would form successful partnerships first with Henchoz and later Jamie Carragher, who had been moved in from right-back by new boss Rafa Benítez.
Hyypiä was quickly becoming a star in his own right, however, as he was named joint-captain of The Reds at the beginning of the 2000-01 season. During that campaign he would go on to lead his side to a cup treble of The League Cup, The FA Cup, and The UEFA Cup as well as claiming his own personal “treble” by winning the Finnish Footballer of the Year award for the third consecutive year (making it into the World Team of the Year in the process).
Over the course of his illustrious career he would go on to win seven Finnish Footballer of the Year awards as well as 97 caps for his country, making him one of the most capped players in Finnish football history. In a red shirt Hyypiä won a total of 10 pieces of silverware including Liverpool’s historic fifth Champions League title in 2005 (having scored a vital goal in the semi-final win over Juventus).
The signing of such a footballing colossus must go down as a success for Liverpool, especially at a price of just £2.6 million. It is worth remembering that just a few years later Manchester United spent £30 million on Rio Ferdinand and, when compared to that deal, Sami Hyypiä’s transfer fee is dwarfed in a way that the Finn never was.
During Hyypiä’s time at Anfield he received high praise from a number of footballing luminaries, including Ian Rush, who said, “He’s got to be up there with the best signings the club has ever made,” and Ron Yeats who said that the deal was “one of the best bits of business we’ve done over the years…a steal – a bargain.”
After The Finn’s last appearance for The Reds, he was held aloft by his team-mates in a show of their respect for Hyypiä, both as a footballer and as a man. There is no doubt that he earned that outpouring of respect and it is my humble opinion that Sami Hyypiä will forever be known as one of the greatest footballers in the history of Liverpool Football Club.
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