10 most questionable signings made by Liverpool in the last 10 years

#9 Christian Benteke (2015)

Christian Benteke

Christian Benteke, the big Belgian bulldozer, was bought by Brendan Rodgers from Aston Villa for a hefty fee of £32.5 million. He had been remarkably consistent at Villa Park for three seasons in a row and wanted to continue his fine form in the Premier League at Liverpool as well. Benteke started off pretty well as he scored the only goal on his home debut against Bournemouth and he looked like the real deal, a consistent striker who would always come up big.

He scored an unreal overhead kick at Old Trafford, as he continued to make progress under the ex-Reds boss. However, Rodgers got sacked following a 1-1 draw against Everton and in came Jurgen Klopp. Benteke still got many opportunities under the German and proved to be hot and cold. Some weeks he would do well and score, while other weeks he would be missing easy opportunities. This inconsistency was perfectly illustrated over Liverpool's two Christmas games. Benteke scored the only goal in both games, 1-0 wins against Leicester City and Sunderland, but he missed a host of sitters, including an open goal against the eventual league winners.

As 2016 rolled around, Daniel Sturridge returned to full fitness and the Belgian became out of favour pretty quickly. He also fell behind fellow Belgian, the impressive Divock Origi, in the pecking order. He ended the season with two headed goals in the month of May, but his Anfield career seemed over. Benteke did do some wonderful things, but he should have done much more. He looked a bit lazy and disconnected at times, as Liverpool managed to recover £32 million for him when he went to Crystal Palace. Despite playing a season for the Reds, Christian Benteke has scored more goals at Anfield as an opposition player than as a Liverpool player. A truly bizarre stat for a striker.

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#8 Christian Poulsen (2010)

Christian Poulsen

The Danish defensive midfielder was one of the few terrible pieces of business done during that unfortunate summer of 2010. Roy Hodgson came into the club and changed the face of it, almost crippling it for the long-term. He signed Christian Poulsen from Juventus for £4.5 million, as a direct replacement for the Barcelona-bound Javier Mascherano. He was immediately put under pressure with enormous shoes to fill. His start did not exactly reek of confidence from him, as he immediately struggled in a mediocre team.

Poulsen was a prominent figure during the first half of the 2010-11 season, which was unbelievably poor. Liverpool were in a terrible mess and even spent a few weeks in the relegation zone, in October. The club was going through extreme turmoil on and off the field, as the ownership situation turned ugly. Luckily, the club was bought by the Fenway Sports Group and they undid the prior mistake of Hodgson's appointment. Just a little over six months at the helm, Roy Hodgson was sacked as the manager of Liverpool.

As Hodgson left, so did Poulsen's playing time. Kenny Dalglish came in as caretaker manager and turned the fortunes of the Reds for the time being. However, the Dane became completely out of favour at the club under the King. He was left on the bench over the course of those few months. Poulsen left Liverpool for French club Evian at the start of the 2011-12 season after a miserable spell at Anfield. The first half of the season he was so poor and the second half of the season he did not play because of that. Poulsen, along with a few others on this list, remains a name that will always be associated with the darkest period in Liverpool's recent history.