Christian Benteke admits big bucks Liverpool signing fee has made Anfield career hard

Christian Benteke admits the £32.5m ($46.1m) Liverpool paid for his services has made life difficult at Anfield. The 25-year-old striker joined the Merseysiders from Aston Villa in the summer, and has now confessed he has struggled to adapt to the attention.

Benteke has scored eight goals since joining the club and acknowledges his season has fallen short of his own expectations. "Yeah [the price tag is] hard, because I know everything that I'm going to do people are going to talk about the money,'' he said, according to ESPN.

"But as long I'm all right with me, with myself, and I try to work hard for my team, that's the main thing. It's not the season that I was expecting, but it's football, and you have some good times and some bad times and you have to deal with them."

Benteke scored the winning goal in Liverpool's controversial 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend. Victory at Selhurst park moved Liverpool to within six points of the Champions League places, and Benteke admitted his goal meant a lot to him.

"Yeah [scoring again meant a great deal], this is part of football sometimes, you have these kind of moments, and when the manager calls you you have to be ready and you have to try to contribute towards the team," the Liverpool star explained.

"It's hard to say [if the goal can kickstart my Liverpool career], because football, you never know what's going to happen. I take the minutes the manager gives me and try to fight."