Is Christian Benteke ready for Europe's top clubs?

Postby Da_morino » Fri Mar 29, 2013 2:44 pm
Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke will be hot property this summer whether his club are relegated or not.

Arsenal have been credited with a £14 million interest (via The Birmingham Mail), while The Daily Mail believe Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool all want a piece of the action too.

Now his agent, Eris Kismet, is stirring the pot with talk of a transfer to Internazionale (via Sky Sports), and it begs the question: all these links to top clubs, is the man good enough?

There's no doubting the fact that Paul Lambert's £7 million signing has made a massive impact.

In the English Premier League, Benteke has 13 goals and four assists in 25 games. He netted four in the Capital One Cup this season too, taking his overall tally just three shy of the coveted 20-goal mark with eight fixtures to play.

Since the turn of the year he's been a force: scoring six goals over a five-game span, he's become the second-most prolific EPL striker in 2013 behind Luis Suarez.

He's added an element of consistency to his existing game, which is built on power, athleticism and finishing.

But when he arrived at Villa in August he was a very raw footballer.

On his debut against Swansea at Villa Park, he scored a memorable goal, chipping Michel Vorm, but five minutes previous had missed an absolute howler.

There was only one thing running through Villa fans' minds at that point: "Please do not be the next Emile Heskey."

He showed signs of progression over the next month, and it's arguable he was truly noticed during Villa's 3-2 home loss to Manchester United.

That signalled his emergence as a powerful, strong presence on the field...more at

www.isabisoccer.com