As signings go, Liverpool’s swoop for Christian Benteke is arguably as bad as they come.
The Belgian arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2015 from fellow Premier League side Aston Villa in a £32.5m deal. At the time, the move made him the Reds’ second-most expensive transfer behind Andy Carroll’s switch to Merseyside from Newcastle a few years prior.
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Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge spoke glowingly about what the powerhouse could bring to the table, and insisted that he would have no problems adjusting to the style of play at the club.
Speaking after the confirmation of Benteke’s signing, he said: “He gives something different, a massive presence up front. It’s a fallacy when people say he doesn’t play the Liverpool way. He knocked Liverpool out of the semi-final of the FA Cup when he played through the middle.
“He’s very quick, very strong, very aggressive and that’s something we haven’t had for some time up front. It’s something I’m really happy with and I think he’ll bring a lot to the squad.”
Unfortunately for Aldridge and Liverpool as a whole, Benteke turning out to be nothing but a disaster.
As per Transfermarkt, he played just 42 times for the club across all competitions, scoring just ten goals and providing only six assists. The man signed by Brendan Rodgers just couldn’t nail down a place in the first-team, and considering Liverpool had players like Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino, it felt rather ill-fitting that the Reds moved for a 6 foot 3 aerial presence as a leading striker option.
Under Rodgers, he played just six times and scored only twice, whilst when playing for Jurgen Klopp (who took over in the middle of that campaign), he managed just eight strikes. Neither manager could seemingly get the best out of him, and further underlined the questionable nature of his move in the first place. All in all, it meant Benteke cost the Reds a princely sum of £3.25m per goal.
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The fact that Benteke was then sold to Crystal Palace for £27m just over a year after initially signing for the club simply spoke volumes about how badly they had gotten it wrong about the kind of player they were getting.
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