Liverpool: The 5 best and worst signings of the last decade

Worst

#3) Christian Benteke (2015)

Christian Benteke is another case of poor signing; both because of his performances while wearing the Liverpool jersey and because of Brendan Rogers poor vision. After the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Rogers tried extremely hard to replace the Super Striker.

One of the men tasked with the duty was Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke. The purchase was completed for £32.5 million and although Benteke performed well in the beginning, he was not the type of striker Liverpool required.

The Reds were in need of a forward who could force the issue and create chances. Unfortunately, Benteke was a target man who simply did not fit Liverpool’s system. While he grew steadily, his decline began once Jurgen Klopp took charge of the Reds and despite being given enough chances, he couldn’t hold a place in the starting XI and was eventually sold off for £27m to Crystal Palace in 2016.

Best

#3) Virgil Van Dijk (2018)

You know you’ve made a brilliant purchase when your player pips Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to win the UEFA Men’s player of the year. The purchase was not cheap by any means, £75m in the winter of 2018 made him the then most expensive defender in the world.

Van Dijk provided such stability to Liverpool’s back four that he was named in the UEFA Champions League squad of the season despite playing just half of the season in the Champions League. However, his best was yet to come.

In the 2018/19 season, his first full season in a Liverpool jersey, Van Dijk was named the PFA player of the year and the Premier League player of the season. He was the man of the match in Liverpool’s Champions League final victory and was adjudged the aforementioned UEFA Men’s player of the year and also finished as runners-up for The Best FIFA Men’s player.