Last summer, Liverpool were constantly linked with a move for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, and new reports suggest that Brendan Rodgers may reignite his interest in the upcoming transfer window.
According to West Midlands newspaper The Express and Star:
"Juventus, Liverpool and AC Milan are all interested in signing Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke".
Brendan Rodgers is a big fan of Benteke, and in an interview with TalkSport last year, he enthused:
"[Christian] Benteke is one of the very top players at this level. He makes great runs and scores goals, and he caused us lots of problems."
During the period of LFC's alleged interest, Anfield legend Jan Molby argued that Benteke is 'an option worth considering', but he urged the Reds to be cautious about splashing the cash. He told Eurosport:
"You might be able to get Benteke for £15m, but I would like to see if it is more than just his physical power that has given him an advantage over defenders this season. I want to see him improve maybe 10 per cent before you dive in with heavy money"
Molby's call for caution appears to be right. With six league games to six, Benteke - described earlier this month as 'absolutely world class' by Villa boss Paul Lambert - has hit just 11 goals for Villa this season, which suggests he's finding his second season in the top flight a little more difficult.
Benteke handed in a transfer request last summer, but soon after, he signed a 4 year contract extension, which means any club who buys him will almost certainly have to pay a significant fee (reportedly £25m, and in my view, there's no way LFC will pay that much for him)
Benteke would probably jump at the chance of a move to Anfield. The striker is a massive fan of Luis Suarez, and in January, he hailed the Uruguayan as 'one of the best', adding:
“The thing I like about him [Suarez] is that he just keeps going. It’s a lesson for every player. If a striker tries to do something and loses the ball he will lose his hope and his confidence. But Suarez never, he will always try try try again until he scores a goal. That’s why he is a great player.”
For me, Benteke is not the right fit for Liverpool. If Suarez stays at the club, the Reds need a young, hungry striker who will be happy to be a cover player; someone who will fit snugly into the very obvious striker pecking order. Benteke is an established Premier League striker, and will want to play most games, and with SAS on the case, that's not going to happen.
On the other hand, when all is said and done, Benteke has 46 goals/assists in 64 games for Villa (goal/assist every 1.4 games), which is a superb return a young striker in only his second season in English football. The Belgian is Premier League proven - a major bonus - and his creative return suggests he could provide good competition for SAS.
Should LFC pursue Benteke this summer?
NOTE to Villa Fans: You're welcome here, but any snarky, snidey, abusive posts will be deleted, and the poster banned permanently. If you disagree with the content of the post, make your points in a civil manner. Thanks.
Author: Jaimie K
According to West Midlands newspaper The Express and Star:
"Juventus, Liverpool and AC Milan are all interested in signing Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke".
Brendan Rodgers is a big fan of Benteke, and in an interview with TalkSport last year, he enthused:
"[Christian] Benteke is one of the very top players at this level. He makes great runs and scores goals, and he caused us lots of problems."
During the period of LFC's alleged interest, Anfield legend Jan Molby argued that Benteke is 'an option worth considering', but he urged the Reds to be cautious about splashing the cash. He told Eurosport:
"You might be able to get Benteke for £15m, but I would like to see if it is more than just his physical power that has given him an advantage over defenders this season. I want to see him improve maybe 10 per cent before you dive in with heavy money"
Molby's call for caution appears to be right. With six league games to six, Benteke - described earlier this month as 'absolutely world class' by Villa boss Paul Lambert - has hit just 11 goals for Villa this season, which suggests he's finding his second season in the top flight a little more difficult.
Benteke handed in a transfer request last summer, but soon after, he signed a 4 year contract extension, which means any club who buys him will almost certainly have to pay a significant fee (reportedly £25m, and in my view, there's no way LFC will pay that much for him)
Benteke would probably jump at the chance of a move to Anfield. The striker is a massive fan of Luis Suarez, and in January, he hailed the Uruguayan as 'one of the best', adding:
“The thing I like about him [Suarez] is that he just keeps going. It’s a lesson for every player. If a striker tries to do something and loses the ball he will lose his hope and his confidence. But Suarez never, he will always try try try again until he scores a goal. That’s why he is a great player.”
For me, Benteke is not the right fit for Liverpool. If Suarez stays at the club, the Reds need a young, hungry striker who will be happy to be a cover player; someone who will fit snugly into the very obvious striker pecking order. Benteke is an established Premier League striker, and will want to play most games, and with SAS on the case, that's not going to happen.
On the other hand, when all is said and done, Benteke has 46 goals/assists in 64 games for Villa (goal/assist every 1.4 games), which is a superb return a young striker in only his second season in English football. The Belgian is Premier League proven - a major bonus - and his creative return suggests he could provide good competition for SAS.
Should LFC pursue Benteke this summer?
NOTE to Villa Fans: You're welcome here, but any snarky, snidey, abusive posts will be deleted, and the poster banned permanently. If you disagree with the content of the post, make your points in a civil manner. Thanks.
Author: Jaimie K
Can't see him leaving us(Villa) for anything less than £30Mill, Lerner already on edge of a fan revolt, selling Benteke for less than 30 would turn it into such.
ReplyDeleteReally, what is the point of this article at this particular point in time?
ReplyDeleteWhy troll the manger and the management over something that has
NOT been proven yet...let me explain further.
You list only Couthinho & Strurridge as the only successes the manger
has made which without any bias imo is to be polite, garbage.Mignolet
has been a better success than Pepe Reina especially the form the latter displayed over his final 18 months here...(and i really liked pepe by the way).
Sakho pick up a difficult injury which curtailed his progress within the
team...i dare anyone to say that he has not proved his worth so far?
Joe Allen is not everyone cup of tea and so gets picked on when things
don't seem to be going right within the team,which has not happened
that much this term.This is a worrying trend imo, Lucas and more recently Jordan have both been given ''dogs breath'' by some of the faithful.
Only for them to prove them wrong with performances that shown that even previous mangers had to listen to the drivel that came from our magnificent supporters about the quality of their signings.Because they
wouldn't waste time reading about it.
It's clear to me at least that that word ''patient'' is totally lost on the majority of their detractors,especially if they've have had a ''skinful''.
As for Assaidi, Luis Alberto, Aspas and Illori how can they really be criticized given this is their first season!! and recent history shows that
notable improvement comes within the second season?
It's ludicrous....!
BR stated that he had improved the overall quality of the ''group''
this summer.As to so compete within the various different competition
we would face this season and to advance further within the league.
Job done, i say in truth.If this was one of your April fools joke you got me.If not and it's an honest question your asking then shame on you
Mr jamie k yes shame on you sir you manc.
Dead right JK. The transfers have been atrocious. People always bring up sturridge Coutinho and what might happen with others but what may happen maand absolutely nothing.
ReplyDeleteBenteke will be available for £15 million max, as pointed out his return this season has dipped
ReplyDeleteIf Suarez delivers CL, let alone the title!, he may head off to play for Real Madrid. It would be a sad day but I don't think many fans would begrudge him the move. He would get a hero's send off just like he did at Ajax because of his unique, surprisingly and disappointingly so, hunger for the game and will to win
The main thing is that the club sign BR up for the future and back him with the Suarez cash to buy whoever he wants to replace Suarez
£100 million plus for Suarez would give us a great start on new stadium
Obviously I hope Suarez stays in Liverpool for ever but realistically he may not......
Benteke can piss off
hahaha 15mil dream on fool
ReplyDeleteAgreed, not too sure he would have the right chemistry for the set up and he hasn't been significantly impressive this year (admittedly factoring in an injury).
ReplyDeleteHowever.. Part of me would rather like to see Benteke ravaging Bayern on the counter, late in the quarter final tie to give Liverpool a hard earned 2-0 win on a Champions League Wednesday under the Anfeld floodlights finishing off some delicious penetrative link up play from Gerrard, Hendo, Coutinho, Raheem and Suarez... Merely a fantasy though. ;-)
Not really, just replace Benteke with the 20 goal a season (so far) Sturridge and I think that fantasy might be coming to and Anfield Road near you ;)
ReplyDeleteDj Spooney said on a podcast with Anfield Index that Liverpool have signed someone already for 25m and the hint is that he currently plays in the premier league and should be going to the World Cup.
ReplyDeleteWas it because i called you a manc, why you deleted my earlier post?
ReplyDeleteIf you found that offensive you should re read your entire article.
@jaimieK What do you think of Lacazette or Muriel? I agree that Benteke will probably need starting time to realistically want to be at Liverpool, which doesn't back him the best transfer, but the two I listed seem to fit the bill imo.
ReplyDeleteMuirel all the way...
ReplyDeleteDoubt its true, but just a few guesses anyway...
ReplyDeleteLallana?
Vertongen?
Shaw?
Benteke?
...
...
Saved best for last- Andy Carroll!!!!
Jk, April Fools :D
Everybody should concider the need of that 6-8M signings. At that time Liverpool squad was very well known as a very very thin. So making the squad larger was a priority and cheap players as Aspas and Alberto were needed. Without them we would have only two strikers (Suarez and Sturridge).
ReplyDeleteSo I can say business last summer was mainly used as a creating larger squad. All that cheap players are squad players.
Only one criticism of Rodgers? I have several. Some of his transfer dealings, playing 4 CBs againsts sotton (wtf?!?!), subbing on the Brad kid at Chelsea, not putting on an extra attacker when New Castle went a man down - just a few. But I won't hold these against him, because he seems an intelligent guy who can learn and adapt. He's a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteRodgers like the team are a work in progress - this is not the same team that lost to Sotton or Arsenal in the fall, they are much better. I hadn't written off Sterling, but didn't think he would mature in a matter of a couple of months, who thought Skrtel would be leading the defense, and be top defensive scorer, who(besides me) thought Suarez could perform on the Level he's playing, and that Sturridge would actually bang in at least 20 goals? Pretty scary thoughts if you ponder it, if you think things are good - these guys will only get better.
And that goes for Rodgers too - he's improved and adapted his tactics, is getting a good deal of juice from his players, and surely will learn from his past dealings in the transfer market s he his with his formations and tactics.
As for the players bought, I won't be too quick to judge on whether those who aren't playing now are failures. Sure on the immediate measurable impact score (for this summer) it's a fail - but who's to say thatI ILlori, Alberto, Borini, Allen, and even Aspas won't have a breakthrough season like Hendo, Sterling, and Flanno are having right now???
Benteke would be a blunder. He's not mobile enough for the way we play. And he's certainly no threat to Daniel Sturridge...or at least he shouldn't be. Sturridge is world class. He's scored 20 which would be top in the league if it weren't for his teammate. How many would he have without Suarez? Benteke is nowhere near Sturridge's class. No he's no threat to Sturridge at all...or at least he shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't really seem like the right fit. He's a good player but we have two established strikers and what we really need are attacking players to support them. I don't see Benteke as having the kind of positional flexibility of other players we've been linked with. I'd guess we'll pick up an attacking player who can play that 10 to 9 role or anywhere across the front 3. Benteke just doesn't fit that model.
ReplyDeleteNope, imo Benteke doesn't have great technique, can't play across the front free like our strikers can & for me he's been found out this season. I'd prefer Lacazette or Muriel if we're buying a striker but personally i don't think we need one if Borini is coming back into the squad. Instead i'd like to see us strengthen in midfield by signing Firmino (new contract but Hoffenhiem can't refuse big money), Rakitic or Isco & Konoplyanka. I'd like us to sign Alberto Moreno or Luke Shaw for the LB position & we need a quality GK as competition for Mig. Also the squad should be reinforced with players from our youth team & our returning loanees, Robinson, McLaughin, Wisdom, Ilori, Coady, Ibe, Alberto, Suso & Yesil or Hodzic. I think we need to maintain our focus on youth so i'd also like LFC to sign Jamaal Lecelles, Delle Alli, Ryan Gauld, Seung Woo Lee, Sebastien Tello or Alvaro Morata. Once we trim off the dead wood, Jones, Cotes, Toure, Cissoko, Assaidi, Moses (maybe Allen & Aspas), i think we'd have a competetive squad to challenge on all four fronts. We could then reassess the squad in January but I wouldn't want to see our youngsters passed up & miss out on a crack at the first team due to expensive foreign signings.
ReplyDeleteYNWA, JFT96.
I can't believe you think Benteke would be better on a counter than Sturridge. Sturridge can fly...his strikes are more accurate than Benteke's will ever be. Benteke is a slightly quicker fence post than Andy Carroll. Benteke is average at best. I can't believe LFC is even having this discussion.
ReplyDeleteWe'd be better off spending £25mil on developing robot-exoskeletons for Sturridge and Suarez so they can play every game.
ReplyDeleteI will invent this technology. If the club are interested they should reply to this post and I'll get them to pay me via PayPal.
I'm almost certain that I could make this happen.
I'd much rather have 30 goals a season for the next 3-5 years...the stadium money will flow during that time.
ReplyDeletenope
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Rodgers is thinking the same thing, he's quite the perfectionist. I don't agree that Allen is a "failure" and he's been a part of our success this season despite not having a clear and regular role. That speaks a lot to his adaptability and general importance. I think Alberto and Illori will be properly judged as they mature into proper Liverpool players. If it turns out that they earn regular spots in the squad then it's money well spent. Aspas simply hasn't been needed and maybe there is some underlying issue with what he's doing at training but I don't think that's the case. I think if there are periods of time where Suarez is not available then we'll have Aspas take his place. When he played he looked OK and we know he has ability from his form in La Liga. Borini and Assaidi are the only two players who have been given clear chances to impress and haven't managed to do so and I think Borini is still far too young to be writing him off. He has plenty of years to realise his obvious talent and find a place in the team.
ReplyDeleteSo I agree that our transfer business needs to be better but I don't think the players we've signed are anywhere near as bad as people make out. None of them were big marquee signings. Compare this to Aquilani, Robbie Keane or Ryan Babel. These guys were supposed to be starters, players who would make us significantly better.
Our biggest notable failure has been in actually signing those big name players who would have commanded starting spots. Subsequent form shows that they would have been brilliant. Mhkitaryan and Costa are big players that we targetted and either one of them would almost certainly have contributed massively at Liverpool. This coming summer we'll actually get those kinds players. They'll respect us as a team that can compete and has CL football. They'll not come cheap and I think that is the point at which we'll really see if Rodgers and his scouting team have gotten things right.
I agree his substitutions were questionable early in the season but seems to have got it right of late with the exception of Moses last game WTF. Yep Rogers is growing with the team and looks to be a great manager in the future.
ReplyDeleteSpurs will always be a great example of what transfer business is ultimately about. I think on paper you'd say they did brilliantly with the money earned from selling Bale, but in reality some of these guys are not at the level you'd expect. While JK will claim that what happens at Spurs is irrelevant to LFC I totally disagree. What happens at other teams is indicative of the transfer business in general. Even Arsenal haven't entirely gotten what they expected from Ozil and I think that's a big surprise. He'll come good in the future but no way is he a 40 million pound player this season. What is shows is that transfers have a low rate of success and therefore any judgements can be made comparatively, not on an absolute basis. Saying a manager has made some dud signings is a dud point, it will always be that way. There will never be a manger of LFC who doesn't have their share of players who don't turn out according to expectations.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest transfer deal for us this coming summer is Suarez. Fully expect Real Madrid Bayern Munich and PSG to go all out. Also expect Chelsea to have a go. Throw Barcelona in to the mix. It will all depend on Suarez will he throw his lot in with us. He's making all the right noises at the moment and I pray he will stay. The money offers will come it depends on the man himself.
ReplyDeleteWhile your at it, I'll pitch in with age-reversal power bar for Stevie, Rushie, Kenny, Carra, and co. 2 products for the price of 1!
ReplyDeleteWhat? Is there no better striker than this one-season-wonder Benteke? For that amount I will go for Luis Muriel
ReplyDeleteLukaku or Benteke?
ReplyDeleteWould prefer lukaku if we are going the big striker route
ReplyDeleteThat's silly made up stuff, mate.
ReplyDeleteI'm being serious about LFC's future, lad.
If you're going to post stupid stuff like that, don't bother.
Robot-exoskeletons.
One of Lacazette or Muriel are the players i want at Anfield Next Season, Both are Great, and Both Will Accept being a Cover ST for SAS, Both Worth 10-15m each, so One of them Would be Great For us
ReplyDelete30mn lol. He has been very inconsistent this season. 20mn max.
ReplyDeleteRobot-exoskeletons seem a bit fanciful. Go for the simpler option of a time machine and go back and get the young Rushie
ReplyDeleteNot a good fit for our style. That's why we got rid of Carroll
ReplyDeleteCould it be Milner? we'll have to ask Grobbelaar if it's true! :-)
ReplyDeletewould rather have lukaku
ReplyDeleteI don't like the notion of making the CL to sign big name players. The squad doesn't need a marquee and bank busting addition. The only reputable first team player we should be in for is a left back. Other than that, I can't think of a player in our best 11 that needs direct replacing - Gerrard is the DM now, who is better than Henderson? Sterling is in career best form.
ReplyDeleteWe'd all prefer some greater quality on the bench, it's a squad game and there are more fixtures next season. I think we should be more conservative and just plug the gaps that currently exist.
I would rather see Jack Dunn play from the Reserves and not waste 25 million on Benteke.
ReplyDeleteVery different players but I agree to some extent. Dunn has been killing it and I love the idea of teaching talented kids the liverpool way from a young age and bringing them into the first team, sprinkled with a world class signing or two each year.
ReplyDeleteBenteke? Yes please! But where would he fit?
ReplyDeleteyou cannot compare Benteke to jack dunne. Benteke is a PL monster. when he plays at Anfield he scores goals and BR is not silly. he knows Benteke will definately score goals. hes an extremely talented player, and even when he doesnt score, he still plays well and gets assists, or hits the bar. at the end of the day, he plays for a mediocre team like Villa, and they wont always be on top form which explains why his record is probably not as good as Suarez or Sturridge. but at Liverpool there will be times where sometimes, especially in the Champions League, BR will go for the kill and play
ReplyDelete----------------------Benteke
-----Suarez-------------------------Sturridge
-----------------------Sterling
----------Coutinho------------Gerrard
this will not be all the time. Benteke will know he will be restricted to Starting in PL games which we definately know he will get us the win, like against teams like Norwich and where we can give maybe Sturridge a rest. as we know we will need him for Crucial CL games. but if Benteke is firing it will be hard for BR to leave him out, and i think he can fufil his Drogba potential at Liverpool. he will have a good World Cup with Belgium and as Sturridge and Suarez already know the System, they can fill in AT TIMES to support Benteke in his favoured central role, and play Right and Left Wing. Suarez does it with good effect and so can Sturridge.
If Benteke joined Liverpool it would be a massive boost to our Champions League hopes. Benteke, Suarez and Sturridge is a extremely deadly Strike force, Man City have shown over the years with four strikers they can be successful. Tevez, Balotelli, Aguero and Dzeko all in one team. United won all the triple under Fergie with C.Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, C.Tevez and Berbatov. and he still also managed to use Louis Saha. amazing. it allowed to be on top form in all Competitions and in the end they won the CL, the PL and the FA Cup.
Brendan Rodgers is smart and after we Lift the PL this Season, BR will buy important players to support our Champions League quest. personally i would take Benteke £16M, Lallana £20M, Alex Song £17M, Roberto Firmino £20M, Ashley Cole FREE. £73M. sell Lucas for £13M, sell Allen for £8M, Sell Reina for £5M, Sell Assaidi for £5M, sell Borini for £10M, Sell Coady for £2M, Sell Coates for £3M. £46M. that will be great as we dont need none of those players. Gerrard has now shown us all along we never need Lucas. he plays the DM role with perfection in the system. Allen is OK but i'd much rather have Lallana, and with the LFC team that will go to England, Lallana will gel well with the current LFC players and it will be like that for many years, which is a bonus for the club. Borini is doing well at Sunderland and its good for them. they can keep him, with Benteke, LFC will reach all different kind of heights, depsite being the same age as Borini. Song will replace Lucas as back up to the ageing Stevie G.
Thank you. Comparing yourselves to other teams ultimately identifies important means of measurement, such as standards. To be honest, I'm very encouraged by the fact that Rodgers at least identified, and tried to sign some established, quality players such as Costa.
ReplyDeleteOh Jaimie you little scamp. No chance I am getting involved in this again.
ReplyDeleteWhat? I'm just passing on Jan Molby's view on LFC's transfers ;-D
ReplyDeleteIts bit unfair, judging him on 5 squad players totaling less than the price of Andy Carroll, which in any case could be completely off-set by the sale of one of his successful signings, that's a bit harsh or just finding criticism for sake of finding one. Look at Willian, Mkhitarayn( spelling) and Diego Costa, not to mention Konoplyanka,
ReplyDeleteIrregardless of arguments of who is and isn't a waste of money we definitely agree that investment has to be spot on in the summer to keep us this end of the table for seasons to come. But comet o think of it I think I said that about the last two windows. So what do I know.
ReplyDeleteI think people should stop writing off players. You've been proven wrong so many times, yet still you persist. This isn't a one season stint, this about building a dynasty. How do you know those players will not come good? Next season we're gonna need a far bigger squad, and we've already got players who have had a whole or half a season at Anfield ready to come in. It's called planning ahead.
ReplyDeleteproblem is your just wrong on pretty much of your points.
ReplyDelete1. you fail to give importance to just how good the signings of daniel and philipe were. Not just unquestionable successes, but tripled investments. 10/10 signings.
2.Sakho has been injured, and it's not unusale for some players to be phased in, we saw that happening prior to injuries, and we saw the shadow of the beast imo, watch this space!
2. Illori, Borini, and are not worth zero, Borini's shown he can score in big games, next season UCL ... need i say more?
Illori is so young, but he's the closest thing to the flash on a football pitch, broken C. Ronaldos sprint record.
3. yeh moses is shit lol
Top of the league, scoring more goals than our rivals, breaking records nearly every game and you want to criticise.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct.
ReplyDeleteThe one counter I'd say is that we could have saved quite a bit of money and relied just as heavily on players already here in our academy.
And the only reason why I say that is because we haven't relied on those 6-8m signings to get us where we are today.