By Sanjeev Shetty BBC Sport Online

So the man with genius in his boots but no control over his hair has decided to give it another go at Liverpool.

All the signs point to Jari Litmanen seeing out the final months of his contract at Anfield, picking up a considerable wage packet and settling for reserve football.

Regular followers of the Finn know he has been there before.

The 31-year-old has played for three of Europe's greatest clubs - and made an impact at only one of them, Ajax.

Generally acclaimed as the greatest Finnish footballer of all time, Litmanen has endured frustration at both Barcelona and Liverpool, despite fellow professionals endorsing his massive talent.

At Barca, his signing was supposed to make the Spanish club one of the best in Europe.

Instead, he found himself on the bench as the likes of Rivaldo and Luis Figo stole the show.

When Litmanen left the Catalan giants for Merseyside in January 2001, former team-mate Marc Overmars warned that losing the player could hurt Barcelona in the long term.

On the other hand, Litmanen's former boss at Ajax said the Finn would prove a fantastic signing for the English giants.

"Jari will be an outstanding player for Liverpool," said David Emdt.

"He is an intelligent player with great vision and at Ajax he showed great patience for picking the right moment to open defences."

Anfield legend Ian Rush compared Litmanen to possibly the greatest Liverpool player of them all.

"I benefitted from Kenny Dalglish's vision an awful lot and I'm sure the current Liverpool strikeforce will benefit from Litmanen in the same way," enthused the Welshman.

It seemed too perfect to be true - the boyhood Liverpool fan joining a club enjoying a long-awaited renaissance and poised to land an unprecedented treble.

Significantly, Litmanen did not play in any of Liverpool's three finals - the Uefa Cup, the FA Cup and Worthington Cup - that season.

He missed out on the Charity Shield and Super Cup the following season as well, although injury and ineligibility played their part.

Things started well for the Finn.

He made a goal in his first game and drew rave reviews for the vision and skill he added to an already prolific attack.

Michael Owen, Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler were the established strikers at Anfield and Litmanen's brief seemed to be to provide chances for his three colleagues.

And when he got his chances, he did just that.

One glorious night at Anfield saw Fowler and the Finn destroy a buoyant Crystal Palace 5-0 in the Worthington Cup.

But within six months, both players found themselves as outsiders looking in.

Fowler departed for Leeds while Litmanen slipped further down the pecking order following the arrival of Czech youngster Milan Baros and Nicolas Anelka on loan.