Thursday 23 July 2015 4:07 am

£32.5m Christian Benteke signing makes Brendan Rodgers the highest spending Liverpool manager in history

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has become the highest-spending manager in the club's history by signing Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke.

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The Reds have made the 24-year-old forward their seventh signing of the summer by meeting the £32.5m release clause written into his contract.

In doing so, Rodgers will take his total spending at Liverpool to £312.8m* – no previous manager has taken more from the club's accounts to spend on new players.

Rafael Benitez spent £309m while at Liverpool but did so in six seasons – Rodgers is only just entering his fourth.

Liverpool have already splashed out over £45m strengthening their squad this summer, but have had their spending power boosted by the record-breaking £49m sale of Raheem Sterling to Manchester City.

Player	From	Fee
Christian Benteke (unconfirmed)	Aston Villa	£32.5m
Roberto Firmino	1899 Hoffenheim	£28.7m
Nathaniel Clyne	Southampton	£12.4m
Joe Gomez	Charlton	£3.4m
Adam Bogdan	Bolton	Free
Danny Ings	Burnley	Free
James Milner	Manchester City	Free

Rodgers and Liverpool's so-called transfer committee, who consult with each other on transfer targets, were similarly empowered last season by the £56.7m sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and racked up the biggest transfer window receipt in the club's history by spending over £100m on new players.

Although Rodgers may not have complete autonomy over who comes in and out of the club's Melwood training base, his managerial reign has seen 28 new players arrive in just over three seasons.

On average, each of those signings has cost Liverpool £10.8m. Even Kenny Dalglish, who broke the club's transfer record by blowing £36m on Andy Carroll, finished his second spell as Liverpool boss with a lower average transfer fee.