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Amit Bhatia was involved in one of the most underwhelming Liverpool transfers in recent memory

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Amit Bhatia is a name Liverpool fans may need to learn more about, given he is now trying to buy 30% of the club as part of a consortium.

There are already suggestions from the Reds faithful that FSG could leave the club completely, with Bhatia and his team taking full control.

Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the billionaire investor would arrive with a lot of experience running a club, as he spent many years as the vice-chairman and then chairman of Queens Park Rangers, which included overseeing the deal for Steven Caulker to join Liverpool.

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Liverpool owner John Henry looks at at Anfield
Credit: James Baylis/AMA/Getty Images

Steven Caulker played just four games for Liverpool after joining from QPR

Bhatia joined QPR in 2007 and began serving as vice-chairman before eventually being named chairman in 2018, a role he held until 2023.

During that period, QPR sanctioned the loan move of Caulker to Liverpool.

After initially impressing at Tottenham Hotspur and Cardiff City, the centre-back was sold to QPR in 2014.

He had a promising start with the now-Championship outfit, but ended up being loaned out to Southampton ahead of the 2015/16 season.

Midway through that campaign, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds were hit with an injury crisis in defence.

That prompted them to sign the centre-back on an emergency loan during the 2016 winter transfer window.

But it is fair to say that Caulker did not live up to expectations, going on to play just four games for Liverpool, notching 94 minutes of action in the process.

The now 34-year-old was initially excited by the move, describing it as the ‘chance of a lifetime’.

However, Caulker has since expressed regret at his Liverpool move, suggesting he was written off by Klopp.

Speaking in 2023, he said: “I had a couple of run-outs up-front, played one game as centre-half, did alright, against West Ham.

“We then had the cup replay against West Ham and I’d done my back in, horrible spasms, I couldn’t get rid of it. The morning of the game I’ve had to tell him I can’t play. I was due to start, but I said I actually can’t play. I was devastated, and from that moment on he wrote me off. I think he wrote me off as one of those guys who didn’t want to play or who was scared to play. It couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“That was it, my moment was gone. As soon as that went – and I felt it go because then he started putting me in the U23s to play every week – I was like ‘nah that’s not on.’ You see it all the time, the manager just goes ‘you’re not for me, out you go, get down with the kids.’”