Christian Benteke | BBC: Liverpool Agree £32.5m Fee

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Iron Stove said:
........... Could challenge for top 4, but they've got a terrible fixture list and have to start well.
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This is always misleading IMHO , there are tough runs and easier runs in every teams fixture list but come the end of the season you've played every other team home and away just the same as everyone else. It means Liverpool might not feature in the Top 4 early doors, however I don't see that as any sort of issue and often playing tough teams early on, before they've had a chance to settle and develop a rhythm, can be helpful and throw up surprise results.
 
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An excellent read and lots of clips. Villa fans without doubt rate him as one of their best ever modern players. I;ve no idea how he'll do for us but comparisons to Carroll/Crouch etc. are based on ignorance.

On the Liverpool FC Reddit page from a Villa fan - http://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/3bjl5z/clearing_up_some_misconceptions_surrounding/


Clearing up some misconceptions surrounding Benteke

I've been a Villa fan for a long time. Benteke is one of the most exciting players I've ever seen here. Having watched every single minute of his Villa career so far, either in person or on screen, I feel many of the comments on here misrepresent him. I'll keep it short. This will either deter you further or help you see what kind of player he is. It's a little difficult to find video samples that exemplify my case, but I gave it my best shot with the limited amount of Villa footage that exists online.
Let's settle a few things first:
  • Benteke has made 101 appearances in 3 seasons, scoring 49 goals. That's a ratio of 0.485, or just about 1 goal every 2 games. That's fecking fantastic for a team as devoid of creativity and guile as Lambert's Villa were. We have no flair players or playmakers.
  • Benteke is not injury prone. He sustained a hip flexor injury during the first half of the 13/14 season and an achilles injury from a bad tackle in training just before the World Cup. He struggled to build momentum during that season. Other than that, he has remained injury-free.
  • Guzan, Vlaar and Delph certainly played their parts, but Benteke was the driving force behind Villa for 3 straight years. In a team of dross and low quality imports, Benteke elevated us to the status of competitors at least.
  • His agent, Eris Kismet, is pulling the strings. He and Benteke forced the move from Genk to Villa in 2012 and tried to force a transfer to Spurs in summer 2013. Ultimately he agreed to stay, got a big pay rise and all was forgiven but Kismet, as agents do, is always looking for the next big move. You guys know what I'm talking about, considering recent events with Sterling.
  • Under Lambert, Villa flirted with progressively less exciting playstyles as time went on. At first we were a counter-attacking team. Then we persevered with a rugged long-ball game which limited Benteke. Finally, we settled on a possession-based style with no end product which rendered Benteke useless. Lambert was sacked, Sherwood arrived and Benteke thrived once again.
Now I'll try to dispel a few misconceptions:

"Benteke does not press": This conclusion is drawn from the fact that Villa, under Lambert, never pressed the opposition in their own half. It wasn't our gameplan. In 12/13, for example, we were a primarily a counter-attacking team in a 4-3-3 formation. We sat back with 8 players and lured the opposition to our box, allowing them to commit players forward and thus leaving their defence isolated with the pacey trio of Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann to deal with once we broke. The front 3 were never really expected to press. It's not that Benteke doesn't press, it's that he wasn't supposed to. He's not as ferociously fast or tenacious as Suarez, but he's is not a lazy cnut either. He will press and harry as much as he can, if that's what you ask of him.

"Benteke cannot pass the ball": This assumption must come from his passing completion stats, which are inevitably woeful because he was used as a target man in the 13/14 season by Lambert. I believe, at one point, Guzan to Benteke was the most attempted pass in the league. He invariably wins the aerial duel, but successfully knocking the ball down to a team-mate is far more difficult and could easily skew his stats. In reality, Benteke is a perfectly adequate passer and often makes the kind ofincisive forward passes that he himself would benefit from. With better players around him, he would excel.

"Benteke is just a target man": This is an idea again borne out of Lambert's limited tactics. Lambert never used a playmaker or #10. He preferred to bypass the midfield entirely when attacking. Our makeshift wingers - Agbonlahor and Weimann - were industrious and pacey, but not creative. He's a big lanky bastard (I use that term endearingly) and his aerial prowess encourages neutrals to relegate him to the Crouch/Carroll archetype. He is capable of playing that role but, for a big guy, he also shows remarkable close control, ball retention, dribbling skills and in general is pretty good with the ball at his feet.

I have compiled just some of his goals below. Villa clips are hard to come by, so the video quality is shit in some of them. Many of them are rather simple finishes too, but that's what makes him so brilliant. He's clinical.

Headers:
Towering header vs. Sunderland
Headed goal in the Capital One Cup
Brilliantly placed header vs. Tottenham
Another one against Sunderland
Dominating Everton
Decent jump vs. Southampton
Thumper for Belgium

Running at the defence:
Charging at Liverpool
Doing it alone vs. Palace
Scores vs. Malaga and breaks the defender's collarbone in the process

Keeping it simple:
Debut goal vs. Swansea
Decent take vs. Rotherham
Simple finish vs. Bradford
Good positioning and combination with Weimann vs. Reading
As above, against QPR
Poacher's finish vs. Sunderland
Neat take for the hat-trick vs. Sunderland
Perfect placement vs. Chelsea
Slips it under De Gea
Decent finish vs. QPR
He enjoys playing against Sunderland
Good anticipation vs. Everton
Wembley vs. Liverpool
Neat finish for Belgium

A bit further out:
Perfectly placed vs. Liverpool
Belting it home vs. Liverpool
Another against Norwich
Control and finish vs. Blackpool

Moments of magic:
Sublime goal vs. Man Utd
Improvising vs. Norwich
Out of nothing vs. WBA
Exquisite combination with Weimann
Destroying Chris Smalling vs. Man Utd - or here

Under pressure:
Beautifully composed finish against relegation rivals QPR
Scores 3rd goal with a free-kick to drag us back into the match in the dying minutes against QPR
Last minute penalty in one of our most important matches of the season vs. West Brom

I don't know how your club intends on playing this season but Benteke is one of the best forwards available right now. £32.5m sounds extortionate but any Villa fan would tell you he's worth it. I wouldn't bother considering any potential "chemistry" with Origi because this isn't FIFA, after all, but Benteke will thrive with good players around him and he's good enough to lead the charge at the top end of the table. My fellow Villa fans will know what I mean when I say it always feels like something is about to happen when Benteke gets on the ball, because it usually does.
 
Only 3 players have scored more goals than him in the league in the last 3 years.
Benteke has scored more goals against the top 4 sides than Suarez and Sturridge combined.
 
Invictus said:
Cherry pick what exactly ? I've only attempted to illustrate how someone like Benteke is not going to be the world class player some are making him out to be. We have folks mentioning him in the same light as the likes of Batistuta to prove a point about the overwhelming virtues of goalscoring competence. If you disagree, fine, you're entitled to the opinion. But surely you must realize that outside of Benteke's first season at Villa (which was well over 2 seasons ago mind), he has been kind of mediocre, and not someone destined to lead a big club in terms of title chances, and European competition ? People keep coming back to his 2012/ 2013 form, but lots of players are flash in the pan in their debut seasons, and fail to replicate that sort of return over subsequent seasons, which is exactly what Benteke has shown so far with 10 goals in 2013/ 2014 and 13 goals in 2014/ 2015. How can anyone say with gumption that he will be a consistent 20+ goal per season player is beyond me to be honest.

I mean this is someone who has a similar playing style, and has been the statistical equivalent to the likes of Edin Dzeko, Wilfried Bony, Romelu Lukaku in the past 24 months or thereabouts. Hardly the most distinguished company to have, atleast in terms of what United should aim for. Not an intentional dig in all honesty, but I'm kind of ambivalent about him joining Liverpool. You can't sign some of the best strikers in Europe (by virtue of being out of the Champions League and having underperformed in recent seasons apart from the blip in 2013/ 2014) and I totally get the circumstances, so from an objective standpoint Benteke makes sense. But I do think that from a schematic fitpoint of view, someone like a Lacazette might have been a better choice.

And I still don't believe Benteke will justify the inflated £32 million fee, be it in terms of his current standard, or his projected impact based on his skillset, and lack of consistency evidenced by the performances in the last couple of seasons. That's exactly the type of fee Chelsea paid for Diego Costa, a player that showed a significantly higher level of consistency over his final 2 seasons at Atletico, both in terms of his overall play, and increasing statistical returns, going from 10 at Rayo, to 20 for Atletico in 2012/ 2013, and then replacing Falcao and scoring 36 in all competitions in 2013/ 2014 to show a progressively positive trend as opposed to Benteke who scored an encouraging 23 in his first seasons, but then reverted to the mean instead of improving and building upon the performances. And he has 0 compeitive goals for Belgium since 2012 to boot, despite the striker position being kind of weak for their national team and competition in the form of Lukaku, Origi and co.
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On the money post right down to who we should have gone for (Lacazette) and I think the key issue is we have attacking !midfielders who thrive off playing with strikers who posses good pace and movement, can interchange easily and have good technical ability, now Benteke might be able to integrate into the system, but that's a pretty big risk to be taking especially at that price and with us requiring him to fit in seamlessly and hit the ground running. I would have preferred a striker that fits in with the above model even if he's a worse goalscorer, this signing will essentially make or break the rest of Rodgers tenure here, he's gone away from the 13\14 model and has been given the cash to mold the side the way he wants, now he has to prove he can deliver.
Although having said all that wouldnt surpise me if he ends up scrapping Benteke after a few games and goes for the more mobile but less prolific Origi in a similar vein to how sterling was used. Regardless I'm optimistically holding out hope that if it goes tits up for Rodgers we have the fallback option of Klopp who'll make the best out of what he has and we may finally have a defence worthy of the name.
 
Looking forward to all the "Benteke is world class" and "we should of signed him" posts
 
Overpriced, sure. Good signing though.

25 this year though, I thought he was younger.
 
Guys,
He is a good signing for Liverpool. Will improve them shit loads. It is an exciting signing for them.
There is no reason for one to be sure that he could be the next Drogba but if things go well for Liverpool, he could become a top class striker.
We have to be on our toes and not slack. The top four have to be careful, Liverpool could be a threat.
 
ryan_forlan said:
Guys,
He is a good signing for Liverpool. Will improve them shit loads. It is an exciting signing for them.
There is no reason for one to be sure that he could be the next Drogba but if things go well for Liverpool, he could become a top class striker.
We have to be on our toes and not slack. The top four have to be careful, Liverpool could be a threat.
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I agree, although who have they signed for CM and CB which IMO are their main issues. Probably in goal too.
 
ryan_forlan said:
Guys,
He is a good signing for Liverpool. Will improve them shit loads. It is an exciting signing for them.
There is no reason for one to be sure that he could be the next Drogba but if things go well for Liverpool, he could become a top class striker.
We have to be on our toes and not slack. The top four have to be careful, Liverpool could be a threat.
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Agreed, he's very good signing for them, not just good. I think he'll add goals and have physical presence up field.

The price is a bit bulked up, but it was expected as soon as they got Sterling money. As for transfers they are still a genuine contender for Europa league at the moment. They have good frontline, but the midfield is ordinary, the keeper is shite and the backline is just so unconvincing.

Browniee said:
Looking forward to all the "Benteke is world class" and "we should of signed him" posts
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he's not world class, and not good enough for us, but for Pool IMO he's a very good buy.
 
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Browniee said:
Looking forward to all the "Benteke is world class" and "we should of signed him" posts
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He might not be world class, but he's done exceptionally well to score as many as he has whilst playing in front of the dross he plays with. I don't think many strikers would have scored much more than Benteke whilst playing with Weimann, Delph, Agbonlahor, N'Zogbia etc. All very mediocre players who probably won't ever be good enough to play for a top side (top 10). He's only scored a few less than Aguero (world class), RvP (WC) and more than Rooney (WC) since he signed for Aston Villa, and hasn't been able to play alongside Yaya, Silva, Nasri, Scholes, Carrick, Rooney, RvP and many more. As I've said before, he might not be world class, however, that might not stop him from moving one or two levels up. If Liverpool gel like they did in 13/14, Benteke is good enough to score 25+ in this league, with them - he's scored 20 before...
 
Decent signing for quite a big fee. Glad they spent most of their fee from Sterling on him though.
 
Pleased we weren't in for him at £32.5m plus with the euro at 1.43 surely any big signing must be from a European team.
 
Who is going to take Balotelli off their hands? 4th choice at best now behind Sturridge, Benteke, presumably Ings and possibly Firminho will play upfront on occasion.

They'll do well to get anything resembling a decent fee for Super Mario. Presumably a loan back to Italy?
 
He's a pretty good talent but not sure how he actually fits into the Liverpool system and the personnel they have.

For one they rarely cross.
 
I think he'll do pretty well for them, but not well enough to justify the price. Not well enough for them to compete for trophies either (unless they perform some miracles in what's left of the window of course).
 
So glad he has gone to Liverpool, was worried we could sign him.
 
He'll move on from them within 3 years if he's playing well or Rodgers will have pissed him off with inconsistent playing time within a year.
 
Overpriced at £32.5m, but since they got £40m for Sterling they've improved overall. Solid player that will compliment Sturridge if they ever get to play together. Will be exactly what Liverpool need but I have my doubts about his general ability in a bigger team, which is exactly why I wouldn't want him in our squad.
 
Rodgers: "He's a magnificent carbon-based lifeform, and arguably more potent than Casanova."
 
Will prove to be a very good signing for them .May even bring the best out of Balotelli.
 
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I don't understand why he's going there, seems very short term thinking although I guess it's hardly a surprise. At the moment you'd think that Liverpool will have a go at top 4 next season but you'd think they're more likely to be 5/6th and he's not getting CL football until 16/17 at the earliest. Probably would have been better of staying at Villa for another season and seeing what his options are then.
 
Drifter said:
Will prove to be a very good signing for them. May even bring out the best of Balotelli.
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Not buying that - Mario's last Greatest Hits album was crap.
 
Was going to make a post about how this was such a Liverpool signing when the speculation was that we were interested. Ironically enough that was the case, I am happy we've avoided him. He's a very good player but for us he'd be a bench option and for Liverpool I don't think he adds what they need.

Firmino and Coutinho already has great playmaking between them and Sturridge runs is something I have a hard time seeing Benteke replicating. Especially as Sterling is gone and he was their second threat in terms of pace and dribbling.

Benteke is skilled enough to be a good player for them, but he just doesn't quite add that oomph that Sturridge in top form does.
 
Poof, there goes the Sterling money. He is a goal scorer but will get he be able to run behind the defence to pick up through passes?

Their style of play doesn't exactly suit him. If pool want to change their style then fair play to them but they simply spent money on the wrong type of striker.
 
Liverpool are looking scary now.. Except for the lackluster options at the back, semi-pro goalkeeper and mediocre midfield.
 
Just read up on the deal and it seems they are paying 16m up front and then the rest over the course of his contract which is quite good tbh.
 
I think we'll regret not going in for him.

He's been scoring goals for three seasons (more than Rooney and one less than Van Persie) with a shite Villa side, he's no half season wonder like Andy Carroll where only one style suits him.
 
Rafateria said:
An excellent read and lots of clips. Villa fans without doubt rate him as one of their best ever modern players. I;ve no idea how he'll do for us but comparisons to Carroll/Crouch etc. are based on ignorance.

On the Liverpool FC Reddit page from a Villa fan - http://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/3bjl5z/clearing_up_some_misconceptions_surrounding/


Clearing up some misconceptions surrounding Benteke

I've been a Villa fan for a long time. Benteke is one of the most exciting players I've ever seen here. Having watched every single minute of his Villa career so far, either in person or on screen, I feel many of the comments on here misrepresent him. I'll keep it short. This will either deter you further or help you see what kind of player he is. It's a little difficult to find video samples that exemplify my case, but I gave it my best shot with the limited amount of Villa footage that exists online.
Let's settle a few things first:
  • Benteke has made 101 appearances in 3 seasons, scoring 49 goals. That's a ratio of 0.485, or just about 1 goal every 2 games. That's fecking fantastic for a team as devoid of creativity and guile as Lambert's Villa were. We have no flair players or playmakers.
  • Benteke is not injury prone. He sustained a hip flexor injury during the first half of the 13/14 season and an achilles injury from a bad tackle in training just before the World Cup. He struggled to build momentum during that season. Other than that, he has remained injury-free.
  • Guzan, Vlaar and Delph certainly played their parts, but Benteke was the driving force behind Villa for 3 straight years. In a team of dross and low quality imports, Benteke elevated us to the status of competitors at least.
  • His agent, Eris Kismet, is pulling the strings. He and Benteke forced the move from Genk to Villa in 2012 and tried to force a transfer to Spurs in summer 2013. Ultimately he agreed to stay, got a big pay rise and all was forgiven but Kismet, as agents do, is always looking for the next big move. You guys know what I'm talking about, considering recent events with Sterling.
  • Under Lambert, Villa flirted with progressively less exciting playstyles as time went on. At first we were a counter-attacking team. Then we persevered with a rugged long-ball game which limited Benteke. Finally, we settled on a possession-based style with no end product which rendered Benteke useless. Lambert was sacked, Sherwood arrived and Benteke thrived once again.
Now I'll try to dispel a few misconceptions:

"Benteke does not press": This conclusion is drawn from the fact that Villa, under Lambert, never pressed the opposition in their own half. It wasn't our gameplan. In 12/13, for example, we were a primarily a counter-attacking team in a 4-3-3 formation. We sat back with 8 players and lured the opposition to our box, allowing them to commit players forward and thus leaving their defence isolated with the pacey trio of Benteke, Agbonlahor and Weimann to deal with once we broke. The front 3 were never really expected to press. It's not that Benteke doesn't press, it's that he wasn't supposed to. He's not as ferociously fast or tenacious as Suarez, but he's is not a lazy cnut either. He will press and harry as much as he can, if that's what you ask of him.

"Benteke cannot pass the ball": This assumption must come from his passing completion stats, which are inevitably woeful because he was used as a target man in the 13/14 season by Lambert. I believe, at one point, Guzan to Benteke was the most attempted pass in the league. He invariably wins the aerial duel, but successfully knocking the ball down to a team-mate is far more difficult and could easily skew his stats. In reality, Benteke is a perfectly adequate passer and often makes the kind ofincisive forward passes that he himself would benefit from. With better players around him, he would excel.

"Benteke is just a target man": This is an idea again borne out of Lambert's limited tactics. Lambert never used a playmaker or #10. He preferred to bypass the midfield entirely when attacking. Our makeshift wingers - Agbonlahor and Weimann - were industrious and pacey, but not creative. He's a big lanky bastard (I use that term endearingly) and his aerial prowess encourages neutrals to relegate him to the Crouch/Carroll archetype. He is capable of playing that role but, for a big guy, he also shows remarkable close control, ball retention, dribbling skills and in general is pretty good with the ball at his feet.

I have compiled just some of his goals below. Villa clips are hard to come by, so the video quality is shit in some of them. Many of them are rather simple finishes too, but that's what makes him so brilliant. He's clinical.

Headers:
Towering header vs. Sunderland
Headed goal in the Capital One Cup
Brilliantly placed header vs. Tottenham
Another one against Sunderland
Dominating Everton
Decent jump vs. Southampton
Thumper for Belgium

Running at the defence:
Charging at Liverpool
Doing it alone vs. Palace
Scores vs. Malaga and breaks the defender's collarbone in the process

Keeping it simple:
Debut goal vs. Swansea
Decent take vs. Rotherham
Simple finish vs. Bradford
Good positioning and combination with Weimann vs. Reading
As above, against QPR
Poacher's finish vs. Sunderland
Neat take for the hat-trick vs. Sunderland
Perfect placement vs. Chelsea
Slips it under De Gea
Decent finish vs. QPR
He enjoys playing against Sunderland
Good anticipation vs. Everton
Wembley vs. Liverpool
Neat finish for Belgium

A bit further out:
Perfectly placed vs. Liverpool
Belting it home vs. Liverpool
Another against Norwich
Control and finish vs. Blackpool

Moments of magic:
Sublime goal vs. Man Utd
Improvising vs. Norwich
Out of nothing vs. WBA
Exquisite combination with Weimann
Destroying Chris Smalling vs. Man Utd - or here

Under pressure:
Beautifully composed finish against relegation rivals QPR
Scores 3rd goal with a free-kick to drag us back into the match in the dying minutes against QPR
Last minute penalty in one of our most important matches of the season vs. West Brom

I don't know how your club intends on playing this season but Benteke is one of the best forwards available right now. £32.5m sounds extortionate but any Villa fan would tell you he's worth it. I wouldn't bother considering any potential "chemistry" with Origi because this isn't FIFA, after all, but Benteke will thrive with good players around him and he's good enough to lead the charge at the top end of the table. My fellow Villa fans will know what I mean when I say it always feels like something is about to happen when Benteke gets on the ball, because it usually does.
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A good post but what you seem to have forgot very easily is that for the past 3 years Villa's tactics have been built around Benteke's strengths. Similar to Newcastle with Andy Cole.
I doubt he will have that luxury at Liverpool. He will need to adapt to a team. Which took Coley a couple of years with us so i expect no immediate fireworks from Benteke.

Personally i am really really happy that we didnt sign him. Would have been useless and not the type of striker that is required in the modern game.

If the year was 1996 then Benteke would be Gold.
 
Good signing for Liverpool. He will score a lot of goals for them, something they were missing last year.
 
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