Brendan Rodgers virtually led Liverpool to their first Premier League title again within the 2013/14 season, with the title race happening to the ultimate day as Manchester City in the end got here out on high.
This near-miss seemed prefer it might be the catalyst for the Anfield facet to lastly declare the title the next yr and Rodgers added gamers akin to Mario Balotelli, Lazar Markovic and Dejan Lovren amongst others that summer time, however it turned out to be a false daybreak for the membership.
They completed sixth in 2015, lacking out on Champions League soccer and struggling the indignity of shedding 6-1 to Stoke City in Steven Gerrard’s closing recreation for the Reds, and this was arguably the start of the top for Rodgers.
He made one other few questionable signings that summer time, with one explicit move draining the membership’s funds with out a lot being reaped in return.
Liverpool signed Christian Benteke from Aston Villa for a whopping £32.5m in the summertime of 2015 and he was anticipated to turn out to be the Reds’ focus in assault, particularly as he scored 49 targets in 101 appearances for Villa, virtually a aim each different recreation.
Expectations had been excessive for the Belgian following his move to Merseyside, and with two targets in his first 5 league matches, it seemed like he may rapidly settle into life at Liverpool and provides them the goalscoring risk that they missed the season prior.
It turned out to be a false daybreak, with Benteke netting solely one other eight targets that season, costing the membership £3.25m per aim and making simply 42 appearances in his one and solely marketing campaign on Merseyside.
The striker left for Crystal Palace in 2016 for a reported price of £27m, so Jurgen Klopp virtually bought again all the cash that his predecessor paid for the participant, in what was the German’s first summer time switch window at Anfield.
Was Benteke Liverpool’s worst signing below Rodgers?
Yes
No
Rodgers didn’t essentially do a dangerous job at Liverpool, virtually main them to their first English title in 24 years, however a sequence of misguided signings and poor outcomes in the end price him his job.
Benteke, who was labelled “woeful” by former Premier League participant Stephen Elliot following a penalty miss in 2016, will arguably go down as Rodgers’ costliest mistake in control of the Reds, particularly relating to money per aim.
Discussion about this post