One of the hallmarks of the John W Henry era at Liverpool has been success in the transfer market.
Having learned from early mistakes like Mario Balotelli, Liverpool have enjoyed more victories than defeats since then.
Astute recruits Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson helped Jurgen Klopp build a team to win every major competition.
But that carefully-established reputation is in danger of imploding after an awful week for Liverpool's transfer chiefs.
If missing out on Moises Caicedo to Chelsea was a major blow, to suffer exactly the same fate with their next target, Romeo Lavia, would be hugely embarrassing.
Klopp is always keen to present a unified voice at Anfield but he'll be aware that signing a top-class holding midfielder could be the difference between mounting a title challenge this season, and not.
Club legend Jamie Carragher, normally sympathetic to Liverpool's point of view, hasn't held back at seeing his club outdone by Chelsea's brash owner Todd Boehly.
'An absolute mess and a joke,' is his description of how the situation has been handled at Anfield.
Having lost midfielders Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner in one swoop, one would have hoped for a smoother succession.
Yes, Alexis Mac Allister has arrived from Brighton alongside Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai but the Argentine World Cup winner was forced into a defensive role in the opening game at Chelsea and wasn't his usual self.
'Liverpool are now in a pretty difficult place. People know they are desperate,' added Carragher.
The timeline of events is odd. Klopp sang Jude Bellingham's praises in January but come the summer, Liverpool decided they couldn't compete financially and the player joined Real Madrid.
Yet having pursued Lavia from Southampton all summer without meeting the £60million asking price, they suddenly bid a British record £111m for Caicedo at Brighton.
Caicedo was always minded to join Chelsea, whose director of global talent Paul Winstanley used to work at Brighton and played a major part in getting Caicedo to his first club in England.
If Liverpool thought their intervention would push the Caicedo price up and take Chelsea out of the running for Lavia, it was a high-risk strategy that so far hasn't paid off.
Despite Liverpool belatedly meeting Southampton's terms over a transfer fee, the word now is that Lavia also prefers to join Chelsea, whose ambitions to spend shows no bounds.
The London location angle could be one aspect but also the youngster might have been perturbed by Liverpool suddenly switching their attention to Caicedo.
Whatever happens next, it's not the smooth way Liverpool prefer to do their business.
The spotlight will fall on Liverpool's personnel behind the scenes.
The respected sporting director Michael Edwards left in 2022. His replacement Julian Ward announced later that year he was going to step down at the end of the 2022-23 season.
It has placed a lot of pressure and responsibility on Chief Executive Billy Hogan, a long-time employee of club owners FSG.
The early signings in the window of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai suggested business as usual.
Then the Saudi intervention which saw both Henderson and Fabinho leave left a giant hole at the base of the midfield. So far, a week into the season, it's still not been filled.
Until it is, questions will be asked and Carragher's assertion of a 'mess' will be hard to counter.