Why Liverpool really signed £32.5m Christian Benteke – despite the fact it made NO sense

The first manager turned up at his home in Belgium during the summer, convincing him to sign on the basis that a team was being built around him.

The second made him his captain in a game the following winter. If Christian Benteke once believed that such acts suggested he had a long term future at Liverpool, that he was a player whose presence was valued, he has long since been disabused of that notion.

When Benteke lines up against Liverpool on Saturday for the first time since leaving them in August, he will do so in the knowledge that his move to Crystal Palace already makes sense in a way that the one that took him to Anfield 12 months earlier never did.

Not only does he have, in Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha, the kind of wide players he needs to be effective, he also knows that the entire club, not just the manager, believes in him so much that the idea of playing to his strengths has been taken on across the board.

It all makes what happened during his brief spell at Liverpool seem even more curious now than it did at the time. At some point in the decision making process that ultimately resulted in Benteke joining Liverpool in a £32.5 million move, those involved came to the conclusion that he should be signed regardless of having neither the kind of players required to bring out the best in him nor any intention of recruiting ones capable of doing that.

In the same summer as they brought in a target man, Liverpool did not sign a winger and actually allowed the only senior wide player on the club’s books to leave as Raheem Sterling joined Manchester City.

In retrospect, the only conclusion that can be drawn is one that chimes with the suspicions of many at the time – that the acquisition of Benteke was not part of Liverpool’s transfer strategy, it was a departure from it.

The reason for that was that having decided to stick with Brendan Rodgers as manager, despite regressing in 2014/15, his employers felt that they had no option but to back his judgement on a major signing because to do otherwise would have been to undermine both his credibility and the relationship they had with him.

As a result, Rodgers was empowered to bring in a player whose presence would be at odds with everything else that was happening around him, both on and off the pitch. Despite a goal in his home debut against Bournemouth, it soon became apparent that 20 years after Stan Collymore claimed Liverpool had signed him without any plan of how best to utilise him, history was repeating itself with Benteke.

His incompatibility was particularly apparent when Roberto Firmino, Liverpool’s other major summer signing, was in the team. While Benteke thrives on delivery from wide areas and wants passes played into feet when he plays with his back to goal, Firmino needs movement in front and alongside with team mates being prepared to run in behind to open up the space in which he is at his most effective.

That they were so at odds with one another having been brought at the same time by the same club offered the strongest indication possible that Rodgers’s vision was now totally in conflict with his club’s.

Having broken off from his own summer holiday in Spain to travel to Belgium to demonstrate to Benteke the serious of his intentions, Rodgers remained determined to make the move work. The reality was that he had no other option having championed the signing and convinced Liverpool to pay the £32.5 million release clause in Benteke’s contract with Aston Villa.

Both his standing within the club and his ongoing job security were at risk and there was no prospect of responsibility being shifted or shared if Benteke and Liverpool proved a poor fit.

The problem for Rodgers was that he did not have the type of players required to make the most of the forward’s strengths. Like Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana can play wide but like to drift inside, as they are showing to increasingly impressive effect under Jurgen Kopp, and with Alberto Moreno struggling and Nathaniel Clyne being much more effective in his defensive duties that he was getting forward, there was little prospect of width being provided by Liverpool’s full backs.

Furthermore, James Milner, arguably the one player that Rodgers had at his disposal who was capable of delivering a consistent supply of quality crosses from wide areas had been promised a central midfield berth by his manager, while Jordan Ibe was not yet ready to replace the departed Sterling as many had hoped.

There were no easy solutions for Rodgers where Benteke was concerned and the situation he was facing became even more apparent when Liverpool became more effective with a mobile forward, as when Danny Ings replaced Benteke at half-time against Norwich City, or when they were able to call upon one with superior movement and technical ability, as when Daniel Sturridge scored twice against Aston Villa in Benteke’s absence.

It wasn’t working and it couldn’t work. A move that had seemed doomed to fail from the moment it happened was living up to that expectation and when Rodgers was sacked in mid-October and replaced by Klopp, Benteke was already on borrowed time.

From having a manager who wanted him but been unable to build a team around him, Benteke suddenly found himself with one whose short and long term vision did not include a player of his type. Just two months after becoming the second most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history and stating that they “are the right club for me,” Benteke was already surplus to requirements.

The refusal of either player or manager to publicly admit as much did not change that but the reality was that Benteke was on his way out and all involved knew it. Benteke realised the writing was on the wall on the day that Klopp handed him the captain’s armband for a third round FA Cup tie away to Exeter City.

This was no reward and it was no symbol of his seniority and to Benteke his mere involvement in a second string team featuring several youngsters Kopp hadn’t seen play demonstrated to him that he had no future at Anfield.

Shortly after, Benteke’s agent enlisted the help of a London-based PR company, Polaris Media. It was no longer about convincing Klopp of his worth, an exit strategy was being rolled out with an accompanying motive being to prevent the Belgium international’s reputation from suffering as he was reduced to being a fringe player at Liverpool.

Klopp continued to play the game, insisting that Benteke could still prove himself at Liverpool but his team selections and tactical approach told another story. As the Europa League became Liverpool’s priority, Benteke’s involvement in the competition was restricted to four late substitute appearances, two came in the 89^th minute, one in the 85tn and another in the 83^rd.

While Sturridge’s struggle to nail down a regular starting role ahead of Divock Origi or Firmino became a major talking point, Benteke’s demotion to out of favour squad player appeared absolute.

Speaking about Benteke on Friday, Klopp, as usual, said all the right things. “It is no surprise,” Klopp said of his former player’s form since joining Palace. “If you have a player like Christian you know about his quality but he needed space to develop. We couldn’t change it. I’m sure he thought the same and it [the move] made sense. We know him best. We had all this time in training. He showed all his quality. He is good technical player but now he is at Crystal Palace. We had to make decisions.”

Klopp will be as aware as anyone that Benteke could hurt Liverpool at Selhurst Park tomorrow unless his aerial abilities are subdued.

But he will also know that the strengths that will concern Liverpool are the very same ones that meant Benteke was never going to be the right player for them.