Ian Graham admits he was against the decision to bring Christian Benteke to Liverpool

The data crunchers and transfer committee at Liverpool have received considerable criticism since their formation during the reign of Brendan Rodgers. However, time has since been kinder to them, and the club’s recruitment is today the envy of the football world.

One key cog in the setup was Ian Graham, a trailblazer in data analytics that has since taken football by storm. Between 2012 and 2023, Ian worked for the Reds as Director of Research and built the first in-house analytics department in the Premier League. Working together with Michael Edwards, the duo laid the foundations for Jurgen Klopp’s all-conquering Reds side.

However, it was not always smooth sailing, and Graham revealed as much in an exclusive interview with This is Anfield via YouTube. He opened up on the data-driven approach that the Reds employ and also touched upon the one transfer that he begged the club not to go through.

The incident occurred in 2015 when Brendan Rodgers was still in the Anfield hotseat. Following an underwhelming 2013–14 campaign, the Reds were keen to strengthen upfront given the loss of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge’s injury woes. Rodgers was a fierce advocate of then Aston Villa star Christian Benteke, who often had the habit of putting the Reds to the sword.,

While the Northern Irishman identified the Belgian star as his number-one target for the summer of 2015, it is fair to say that Graham thought otherwise. He goes on to admit that he more or less begged the Liverpool hierarchy to not go all in for Benteke and focus their attention on targets who are more in line with the data at hand.

Unfortunately, it was not to be as Rodgers got his way. But it was not enough to save him from the sack, as a slow start to the 2015-16 campaign saw him part ways with the club. Jurgen Klopp replaced him, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Benteke had his moments under Klopp, but it was clear that the German favoured the false nine role that Roberto Firmino would go on to make his own. The Belgian lasted just one season at Anfield and moved to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2016. To say that Rodgers got this transfer wrong would be an understatement.

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Graham believed that there were better players out there who fit the system better than Benteke. One name that he dropped was that of Diego Costa, who eventually moved to Chelsea and led them to the Premier League title. Clearly, the data-driven approach was well founded, and the Reds have since largely reaped the rewards for their trendsetting recruitment strategies.