Liverpool have done incredible work in the transfer market in recent years.

Year after year, the Reds have found bargain after bargain.

However, it wasn’t always like this.

Cast your mind back to the Brendan Rodgers era and there were a few poor and overpriced signings to say the least.

Lazar Markovic, Mario Balotelli and Iago Aspas were all underwhelming signings, while Christian Benteke cost way too much.

Speaking on the Undr The Cosh Podcast, Tim Sherwood has been discussing Liverpool’s signing of Benteke, and he says that he and his chairmen were stunned by how much the Reds were willing to pay for the Aston Villa striker at the time.

Aston Villa shocked by how much Liverpool paid for Benteke

Sherwood spoke about the sale of the ‘powerful’ striker.

“At the end of the season Brendan called me and said he was going to sign Christian. I tried my best to put him off. I remember ringing the chairman and I told him Christian is going. And he said ‘you’re joking me?’ It wasn’t like ‘you’re joking we don’t want to lose him.’. It was like ‘You’re joking, nobody is paying that?’” Sherwood said.

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Christian Benteke seemed worth it

In hindsight, £32m for Benteke was a lot of money, but, at the time, he seemed like he’d be worth it.

The Belgian was so good at Aston Villa in a team that barely created any chances, and it looked as though he was going to reach another level at Liverpool.

Unfortunately, the Reds were a bit of a mess at that time, and Benteke really didn’t thrive at Anfield.

Luckily, Liverpool did end up recouping most of the cash they spent on Benteke as Crystal Palace would sign him for an initial £27m, so perhaps this wasn’t the worst deal in the world. Although, in hindsight, better options were certainly out there.