Aston Villa’s star man Christian Benteke declared his intention to leave the club this week much to the disappointment of Paul Lambert and the fans at Villa. Whilst the transfer request has left everyone at Aston Villa grumbling, a few potential clubs will be chomping at the bit to jump in for the Belgian. Chelsea and Tottenham are just two of the clubs said to be interested in the striker who has been valued at £25 million by Villa. Tottenham seem the most suitable option for the Benteke as they look to find the firepower to secure them Champions League football.
Tottenham narrowly missed out on Champions League football last season courtesy of a one point deficit to fierce rivals Arsenal. One reason they missed out last season was their lack of goals throughout the team, they were often left relying on Talismanic winger Gareth Bale to win games on his own. Bale scored 21 Premiership goals last season nearly double what any team-mate managed the closest to him being Jermaine Defoe (11).
It appears that Tottenham have already done their biggest bit of business this summer managing to ward off the looming interest of Real Madrid in Gareth Bale. The next goal for Andre Villas-Boas is to try and find somebody who can take the onus of Bale to score all their goals and who better to do that then Benteke who was only bettered by Bale, Suarez (23) and Van Persie (26) in the Premiership goal scoring charts last year.
Spurs currently have Adebayor and Jermaine Defoe as their two main options up front, both of them have a lot of ability however neither of them have been able to consistently find the net and both have had very stuttering seasons. This is why Villas-Boas is looking for a new striker and with Benteke announcing his desire to move on from Aston Villa he is surely a very appealing prospect for the London club.
The Belgian arrived in England from Genk for a reported £7 million fee which could almost be seen as a bargain if they do manage to secure the £25 million+ price they are asking for. He has been a revelation in a team that has been in a relegation struggle for the majority of the season.
Benteke is big, powerful, pacy, agile and also possesses great finishing ability everything that you would want in a striker. These attributes all combine to make a pretty complete package for the striker and he has proved that he can use all of his ability in his debut season in England.
Tottenham will be hoping if they can sign him he will be able to continue his impressive form in London, one potential issue that Tottenham may be wary of is that Benteke has only been in the Premiership for one year. Although he has had a brilliant first season there is always the worry with a big money move that the player could flop under the pressure of the price tag at a new club.
I’m sure that had Benteke played in the league for a couple of seasons and impressed, clubs would be smashing down the door to sign him. However teams will be a little more cautious with the potential signing of Benteke because of the worry of him failing in a second season.
All the talent is there though, and if Benteke can transfer his form at Aston Villa into the Tottenham squad he would surely be a fantastic acquisition for Spurs and would give them a huge boost in their hopes of securing Champions League football next season.