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Some 1370 days after his last Liverpool appearance, Lazar Markovic finally said goodbye to Anfield.

The £20m flop joined Fulham late on transfer deadline day to bring an end a miserable spell with the five-time European Cup winners.

His last game as a Reds player came way back in May 2015, long before Jurgen Klopp was manager.

Raheem Sterling started, Steven Gerrard scored and Rickie Lambert was leading the line for Brendan Rodgers' disillusioned Reds.

Liverpool eventually edged out Queens Park Rangers as Gerrard scored his final goal at Anfield. Markovic played the last six minutes of an instantly forgettable afternoon, save for their iconic skipper's small slice of history.

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Markovic's last start was the infamous collapse to a struggling Aston Villa side in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley a month earlier.

Fast forward close to four years later and Markovic's stint at Anfield is mercifully over. He failed to add to his 34 appearances for the club that paid £20million for him.

To put that into perspective, Markovic had four times as many loan moves as appearances for Klopp since the German pitched up and replaced Rodgers as manager in October 2015.

(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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Another transfer window was threatening to pass by with Markovic still officially a Liverpool player on Thursday evening, before Fulham made a late dash.

Insiders at the club insisted the Serbian wasn't a disruptive figure in the Under-23 set-up, but he appeared strangely unwilling to revive a career that has patently flatlined on Merseyside.

That was before Fulham came calling.

Instead, Markovic now has a chance to once again prove himself as a Premier League player as the relegation-threatened Cottagers desperately try to avoid the drop.

Still just 24, perhaps only Markovic truly knows how a once promising career had been frittered away so carelessly.

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A complex deal saw the Reds take full ownership of Markovic's economic rights five years ago after Benfica sold their 50 per cent share, with the other half belonging to an investment fund owned by super-agent Pini Zahavi.

The Liverpool officials involved in the complicated dealings with the Portuguese club might be forgiven for looking back and wondering whether the hassle was worth it.

In truth, it wasn't.

Since his last appearance for the Reds, Liverpool roughly paid Markovic an eye-watering £9.75million.

He will have earned a further £1m had he stayed put for the final few months.

His 34 appearances for the Reds worked out at around £332,000 a game.

His four loan spells are likely to have somewhat subsidised the winger's wages, but it remains an astronomical cost for a player who hadn't played since Rodgers was still six months away from the Liverpool sack.

Markovic found himself plenty of short-term suitors since the writing was drawn on the wall for him at Anfield, but none of Hull, Sporting Lisbon, Fenerbahce or Anderlecht were willing or able to sanction a permanent move.

Anderlecht came the closest to ending his time at Liverpool, but the Belgian club laid the blame firmly at the player's door when the transfer collapsed last year.

Markovic was expected to leave at the close of the summer transfer window, but a £2.9million deadline-day move to fell through after he failed to agree personal terms.

The then Anderlecht manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck said: "Our president and sports director did everything to convince Markovic."

“They waited until Liverpool lowered the price. They almost did a crazy effort for the player, but it wasn’t enough. It’s his own fault that the deal fell through.”

The 24-year-old, who flew out to Belgium for talks, later claimed “money was not the issue” before he was banished to the Reds' Under-23 side for the campaign.

Attitude was not the problem for Markovic, with the out-of-favour attacker earning a glowing review from Under-23 boss Neil Critchley earlier this season.

"Lazar has been training with us for a while now and I've got to say he's been brilliant to work with,” Critchley told the ECHO last year.

"We've enjoyed having him around and he's been great with the young lads.

"We don't know how long he will be with us. Eventually, I'm sure his career will go on a different path but while he's here we want everyone to benefit."

The time for that "different path" Critchley spoke of finally limped into focus late on Thursday.

Markovic endured a lonely existence for most of the past four years, exiled to the shadows as Klopp has transformed Liverpool into Champions League finalists capable of ending a 29-year wait for a domestic title.

And while his Anfield move was one that plainly didn't work, Markovic - who doesn't turn 25 until March - has plenty of time to leave behind his miserable Merseyside experience and re-establish himself at Fulham.

It is a fantastic shot at redemption.