Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli believes his Anfield legacy should be gauged on the burgeoning career of Jordan Henderson, but insists that new owners The Fenway Sports Group did not think he was worth the money paid for him.
Comolli, 42, was responsible for taking Henderson from Sunderland to Anfield for around 20 million pounds in the summer of 2011 and, after a slow start, the England midfielder and Liverpool vice-captain is tipped to take the armband full-time when Steven Gerrard leaves for the United States at the end of the season.
"Nothing is guaranteed. What we do is try to lower the risk in the decision-making process. But we are dealing with human beings. It is not as though we are buying shares or property," Comolli told a group of future sporting directors in a lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University.
"Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. Sometimes life gets in the way of talent, sometimes there are injuries, sometimes the player doesn't adapt to one place.
"I don't think I have to justify whether [Andy] Carroll was a good decision or a bad decision. Look at it as a whole. When people talk to me nowadays about Liverpool, they say what a fantastic job you did in bringing players like Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson to the club.
"The issue I have got is when a group of owners approach somebody like me and say we want to invest for the long term, we want you to sign young players, we want you to put together a squad which has a future for the next three to five years, we want you to work with the academy and we start to do all this and after a few months or a few years they say: 'Sorry, it's not working out'.
"You cannot say you have to focus on the future and at the same time say the young players are not ready to compete at the top level.
"When I left Liverpool, the owners told me Henderson was a massive mistake. Now he's turned out to be the next Liverpool captain and he's a regular in every game.''
One of the likely reasons Fenway were not keen to spend so much on Henderson in the summer was because of the purchase of former Newcastle striker Andy Carroll for 35 million pounds in the January transfer window of 2011
The deal -- still the highest fee ever paid for an Englishman -- was roundly criticised after the striker scored just 11 goals in 58 appearances in all competitions before being offloaded on loan, initially and then permanently, to West Ham for 15 million pounds.
However, a defiant Comolli believes the Carroll episode should be consigned to history, saying: "The decision was made in a conference call between the owners, myself, Kenny Dalglish (the manager at the time) and the commercial director at the time who is now chief executive, Ian Ayre.
"We made the decision collectively, knowing exactly the money we would lose if it did not work out, and they said they were happy to go ahead with the transfer.
"I will stick to what I have always said about Andy Carroll. When he is fit, he is unplayable. When he has been fit at West Ham, he has shown what he can do, scoring goals, making assists, being a constant threat.
"When people say we made a mistake, I'm still not convinced we made a mistake. It's just we haven't seen the best of Andy Carroll because of all the injuries.''