The point is Houllier KNEW potential when he saw it
Give me a break...let me have £100M to splash and I am bound to hit a few more jackpot than Houllier did. He gambled most of the time and there are more miss than hit, and besides what's good in spotting talent when you don't even know how to appreciate, utilise, manage and motivate them? He paid way over the odds for some of these "talents" and could have done much much better with the money. He left Rafa with a huge wage bill which we have yet to sort out.
To know how to spot a talent and maximise their value, look no further than Arsene Wegner, and to a large extent, our very own Rafa Benitez.
Seriously, it would be very interesting to know how much agent fees we paid and to which "agent" during his 6 years reign.