7 players whose careers dipped after joining Liverpool

#6 Christian Benteke

Liverpool had high hopes for Benteke who failed to fit into Klopp's plans for the club

When Liverpool bought Christian Benteke from Aston Villa in 2015, the Belgian striker was one of the best and most physically imposing strikers in the Premier League. Benteke joined Liverpool after spending three years at Aston Villa, during which he scored 49 goals in 101 appearances for the club.

Liverpool signed Benteke for £32.5 million from Villa, a price tag the striker failed to live up to in his sole season at the club.

Benteke managed to score 9 league goals in 29 appearances for Liverpool, but spent the majority of his time at the club on the bench, after failing to fit into Jurgen Klopp's style of play.

Before he played for Liverpool, Christian Benteke was doing this for Aston Villa against Liverpool 💪pic.twitter.com/Xxlo5eGx1Z

— Goal (@goal) November 1, 2019

Benteke was then sold to Crystal Palace for £27 million, but has struggled to rediscover his goal-scoring touch. He has scored just 21 goals in 108 league appearances for Palace in his four seasons at the club.

#5 Robbie Keane

Robbie Keane was immediately sold back to Tottenham

Robbie Keane arrived at Liverpool after spending six seasons at Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored 80 goals in 197 league appearances for the club. Keane was one of Tottenham's best players, and enjoyed his best season for Spurs in 2007-08, where he scored 23 goals in all competitions.

Liverpool signed Keane in the summer of 2009 from Tottenham for £19 million, as they searched for a striker partner for Fernando Torres. Keane spent only 6 months at Liverpool, where he managed only 5 goals in 19 Premier League appearances for the club.

Keane was sold back to Tottenham Hotspur in January for £12 million pounds, after failing to impress at Liverpool, a club he supported throughout his childhood.

#4 Andy Carroll

Andy Carroll came to Liverpool with high hopes but ended up as one of the club's worst ever signings

The first four names on this list are all strikers. This goes to show how desperate Liverpool were to sign an adequate replacement for Fernando Torres, who left for Chelsea in January 2011.

On the final day of the 2011 winter transfer window, Carroll signed for Liverpool for a fee of £35 million, at the time the highest amount paid for a British footballer. Liverpool used the £50 million they made from the sale of Torres, to sign Andy Carroll from Newcastle, and Luis Suarez from Ajax.

Liverpool had high hopes for Andy Carroll, who had come off an impressive first half of the 2010-11 season with Newcastle, where he scored 11 goals. But it was Luis Suarez who went on to become an Anfield great.

📊 Andy Carroll starts the opening 2 League games of a season for the first time since 2011, when he was at Liverpool Newcastle haven’t won their opening 2 League games of a season since 1997-98 pic.twitter.com/s9IHjuFN88

— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) September 20, 2020

Carroll spent a season-and-a-half at Liverpool, where he managed just 6 goals in 44 appearances for the club. Carroll's time at Liverpool was marred by injuries and indiscipline. He was loaned out to West Ham in 2012, before being sold to the London club for £15 million.

Carroll is now back at Newcastle United, where he has played 26 Premier League games for the club, and has still not scored a goal.