When Rafa Benitez's Liverpool side were one of Europe's most respected teams in the late 2000s, it was the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres who were receiving the majority of the plaudits. One of the truly unsung heroes of that team was Benayoun though. The former Israel international was a very talented attacking midfielder, with creativity, goals and consistency in abundance. He may not have been the most physical, noticeable player but he was mighty effective. He scored 29 goals in his three seasons at Anfield between 2007 and 2010, including a couple of hat-tricks, a double against Arsenal and a famous last-gasp winner at Fulham in 2009 that kept their title dreams alive. Benayoun was deemed surplus to requirements by new manager Roy Hodgson in the summer of 2010, however, and Chelsea snapped him up for a reported £5.5m fee. The former West Ham man was still just 30 at the time, and considering his game never relied much on pace and energy, he still had plenty of years to be effective at Liverpool. He was sold far too prematurely; one of many errors Hodgson made during his short stay on Merseyside.
