Christian Benteke | BBC: Liverpool Agree £32.5m Fee

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Walrus said:
If you cant rely on Sturridge to the extent that you basically discount him from the squad, then you might as well sell him. As it is, I would expect him to play substantially more next season.
Origi is an unknown but he has played for you on tour and scored last night I believe - it sounds like he had a poor season at Lille last year though, so there are still question marks. Firmino I would have thought would play as a false nine - but regardless of where they start, a fluid front three of Coutinho/Firmino/Sturridge is actually pretty good, and you arent short on backup options - Origi, Ings, Lambert, Balotelli, Borini. Surely some of those need to be sold before you can accommodate a starting striker?
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Basically what Johnny said above.

Firmino isn't an out and out striker but can play there (we did that last season - look how that worked out). Why on earth would we sell Sturridge ?! When fit he is one of the best strikers in the EPL, however we can't be sure he'll last a season (or even ½ a season) and he's definitely out until October at the earliest, so need to have another striker that a) he can play alongside and b) can play alone when Sturridge isn't available. Benteke would be a good option for me as I don't believe we can get Lacazette. Ings is a good backup - should not be our frontline striker though and Origi is young and making a massive change in his life, all to prove.

Balo & Borini have been told to find new clubs, hence omitted front the Tour. Lambo doesn't need telling and he'll have no problem finding a suitable club.
 
According to the quality news outlet that is the daily mail, we are in for him.

I am torn on this guy - I think he's young enough that he still could become phenomenal, but on the other hand, he does seem to flatter to deceive very often. He might be the type who absolutely thrives on being in a team with much better players though.
 
I'd take him for about £15M tbh. Not £32.5M!!

Lacazette wouldn't cost that much.
 
I think Benteke could be worth the money, and the wages would be a huge difference to someone like Cavani. I very much doubt we'd pay him more than £100k a week, while Cavani would probably be somewhere between £150-200k. The lack of top class strikers available in this windows surely makes Benteke an interesting option.
 
£32m would be way too much for him but Villa are not going to say for anything for less because he's worth this much to them. He's basically played a pivotal role in saving them from relegation last season which has probably earned them north of £50m in TV money etc.
 
El Zoido said:
With his wage demands?

Benteke would be better value in every way imo.
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i don't really care about value, and i don't think United does either. we're saving a fortune on wages already by removing Falcao and RVP, not to mention Nani. i just want the better player, and i think Cavani is that player (between the two of them -- I'd obviously prefer Muller, Benzema or Lewa, but they're not realistic).
 
Oh god here we go, now when Liverpool sign him, they will of 'beaten' us to him.
I'd rather have Cavani which says it all lol.
 
TrustInJanuzai said:
Based on the fact that Benteke is in fact a very limited player. From the times numerous times I have seen him play I have seen a big player that has a fairly poor first touch, is unable to turn in tight spaces and looks rather clumsy. I would also argue that if you sign a player like this you are more prone to play it long and direct (the fellaini ball) and that is absolutely not what we should be trying to do. Simply put, Benteke is too slow to be a runner, and has too poor control to be a target man and so this leaves us with a perfectly average striker that should be nowhere near Utd or any other top teams unless in search of mediocrity.
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I don't know which player you have been watching but Benteke is not very limited, your description is rather generic and your comparison to Fellaini is infact lazy for someone who has "seen him play numerous times".... Yes, he is an aerial threat, yes, he is really physical, those are qualities you can tell just by looking at the guy, and those are the only things people mostly say about him, he isn't limited, people that haven't seen much of him just place him in that particular category... and you should know this since you have watched Villa on numerous occasions.

Benteke is a really skilful player, he knows how to dribble - infact he is sometimes seen in the midfield trying to beat multiple players, sometimes he is successful and other times he gets dispossessed - which is one of his flaws - he holds on to the ball a little too much, which isn't a skill you necessarily want a striker to have although he does tend to draw in defenders giving other players(ideally the ones with pace) enough room to get into the box unmarked. He is very unpredictable, he can shoot the ball from outside the box with great accuracy, he can take on the last defender and beat him, he can dance around defenders and get the ball into the net even as he is being marked(see Evans,Hangeland), he is one of the few players in the league who is great at flick ons , he is also really good at key passes in the final 3rd, set pieces - and I'm not just talking about being at the end of one, and build up play - meaning he would thrive in a team that plays possession football.

I dont think i need to talk about his awareness in the box,physical presence,finishing and speed, and in regards to the lumping the ball into the box comment, i think anyone who has seen Aston Villa play would know that unlike Stoke and United, Villa aren't exactly that kind of team, they obviously play to his strengths (in this case aerial ability), but reducing their whole attack to just lumping the ball to Benteke is yet another lazy attempt at criticising Benteke.

"too slow to be a runner", "has poor control to be a target man" - stop it, I'm sorry but you are making stuff up at this point, your criticisms dont even seem logical, i mean its not like he has ADM,Mata,Herrera and co behind him, this is a striker for Aston Villa we're talking about, where does a slow striker with poor control go about scoring 10+ goals in the EPL without the services of top players ?

You think he is average? fine, but you have to (at the very least) be able to back it up with facts and not fiction, a striker that has proven himself in the EPL should definitely be in our shortlist.... he is just 24 years old and he still has room for improvement - just like every other player on the planet.
 
dxadel said:
I don't know which player you have been watching but Benteke is not very limited, your description is rather generic and your comparison to Fellaini is infact lazy for someone who has "seen him play numerous times".... Yes, he is an aerial threat, yes, he is really physical, those are qualities you can tell just by looking at the guy, and those are the only things people mostly say about him, he isn't limited, people that haven't seen much of him just place him in that particular category... and you should know this since you have watched Villa on numerous occasions.

Benteke is a really skilful player, he knows how to dribble - infact he is sometimes seen in the midfield trying to beat multiple players, sometimes he is successful and other times he gets dispossessed - which is one of his flaws - he holds on to the ball a little too much, which isn't a skill you necessarily want a striker to have although he does tend to draw in defenders giving other players(ideally the ones with pace) enough room to get into the box unmarked. He is very unpredictable, he can shoot the ball from outside the box with great accuracy, he can take on the last defender and beat him, he can dance around defenders and get the ball into the net even as he is being marked(see Evans,Hangeland), he is one of the few players in the league who is great at flick ons , he is also really good at key passes in the final 3rd, set pieces - and I'm not just talking about being at the end of one, and build up play - meaning he would thrive in a team that plays possession football.

I dont think i need to talk about his awareness in the box,physical presence,finishing and speed, and in regards to the lumping the ball into the box comment, i think anyone who has seen Aston Villa play would know that unlike Stoke and United, Villa aren't exactly that kind of team, they obviously play to his strengths (in this case aerial ability), but reducing their whole attack to just lumping the ball to Benteke is yet another lazy attempt at criticising Benteke.

"too slow to be a runner", "has poor control to be a target man" - stop it, I'm sorry but you are making stuff up at this point, your criticisms dont even seem logical, i mean its not like he has ADM,Mata,Herrera and co behind him, this is a striker for Aston Villa we're talking about, where does a slow striker with poor control go about scoring 10+ goals in the EPL without the services of top players ?

You think he is average? fine, but you have to (at the very least) be able to back it up with facts and not fiction, a striker that has proven himself in the EPL should definitely be in our shortlist.... he is just 24 years old and he still has room for improvement - just like every other player on the planet.
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He could easily be like what eto'o was for real Mallorca, one of those strikers that was impressive, went under the radar for a few years, signs for a big club, and everyone is like, why didn't we sign him?
 
32.5 m seems too high for player who would be back up for Rooney.
 
Looks like he favorited a tweet linking him to us. I think he could be a great signing, offers a plan B and probably wouldn't expect to start every game. He's also only 24 and can improve a lot.
 
Typically I don't care what we pay but this seems a bit much for someone to sit on the bench...
 
£20m would have been fair. £32m is just insane for a player like Benteke, he's fairly good but not worth half that tbf.
 
I'd be happy with Benteke.

£32m is a lot for him but we might get a better deal if we threw in Hernandez or Evans.
 
JPRouve said:
He is posturing, Lyon aren't in a very good financial situation.
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Of course he is, but it's not gonna be 15m that gets it done is it? This kid will cost as much as Benteke I am sure - the Lyon chairman has always done well in getting good fees.
 
Rather this lump than Cavarni. 24 Belguim's number with the potential to hit 20 goals a season.
 


Might not be a bad signing actually. Seems to offer what Van Gaal wants in a striker.
 
He has 100 games for Villa in the last 3 years and he scored 50 goals. I like him a lot.
 
ottosec said:
Looks like he favorited a tweet linking him to us. I think he could be a great signing, offers a plan B and probably wouldn't expect to start every game. He's also only 24 and can improve a lot.
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Did he?
EDIT: Indeed he did the exact tweet being "he's exactly what we need tbh, just needs to be backup to Rooney."

Can't tell if that's him being sarcastic or not! :lol:
 
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