Lerner bought him Darren Bent at that stage didn't he?
And Jean Makoun II, don't forget!
Jean II Makoun to be more precise!
Makoun had early issues with pace of the league but you could see his quality on the ball, I reckon with another continental manager who valued possession the next season he'd have proved a good player for us as he'd played for good teams in France.
Instead McLeish just lazily froze him out in favour of likes of Chris Herd....
Our midfield decisions at that time summed up the odd thinking at club at the time. Reo-Coker actually played well under Houllier but we kept on playing him every week seemingly thinking he was going to sign a new deal at expense of Makoun and also Michael Bradley who also came in that window. Bannan was also developing nicely at that time.
For next season could've had a starting midfield of Cabaye- Makoun-Bradley with likes of Bannan continuing to develop without pressure of starting every week and also Stan as backup. Instead our midfield became very poor and after we sadly lost Petrov we ended 2011/12 playing likes of Warnock and Heskey in central midfield.