Christian Benteke is set to be unveiled as a new £32.5 million signing for Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool this week as the Reds seek to overcome their goalscoring woes of last season.
The Belgian who has spent three seasons in the Premier League with Aston Villa is one of the most feared strikers in the English game. However, life at a club aiming for Champions League football and titles is often an entirely different matter for players making the step up from clubs with smaller ambitions.
Today’s #360debate is: Is Christian Benteke the answer to Liverpool’s problems?
Matt Jones, reporter, thinks YES
Liverpool initially baulked at spending £32.5 million (Dh186m) on Christian Benteke. Now that they have agreed to meet the Belgian’s buyout clause, they will discover it to be well worth it.
Benteke has been banging in goals in the Premier League for three seasons, and at an Aston Villa side regularly battling relegation. He has double figures in all three seasons at Villa Park – including the 13 scored last campaign, despite missing nine games due to a ruptured achilles.
Unlike Daniel Sturridge, who endured an injury-ravaged 2014/15, Benteke has proved he can stand up to the rigours of the Premier League. The 24-year-old recovered and returned to the fold as if he’d never been away. His tally last season was just six shy of the 19 netted in a blistering debut camapign in which he played five more games.
The big Belgian is a 6’ 2”, 13 stone monster of a man, a nightmare for defenders. His size and physical prowess, alongside his goal-scoring pedigree, stand him out from the rest of the Reds’ attack.
Among them, Benteke is unique, with a lot of facets to his game. He’s already a handful for opponents, and possesses decepitively good feet, skill and speed. He’s also aerially proficient, scoring 13 Premier League goals with his head.
Once medical done, Benteke won’t travel to Australia. Will train at Melwood from Wednesday (same day Firmino and Coutinho start pre-season).
— Chris Bascombe (@_ChrisBascombe) July 19, 2015
Liverpool are not really a put it in the box type of team, but with Benteke in their ranks, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson and James Milner now have a proficient target to feed.
Crucially, it is also finding the net where Benteke provides a better option. His addition gives the club eight forwards, although Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli should be gone by the start of the new season.
Of all eight, Benteke scored more than any last season. Danny Ings (11) came closest but played six more games. Benteke has 42 league goals in three years, better than any of his team-mates in the same period.
Sturridge (36), Ings (34), Lambert (30), Roberto Firmino (28), Mario Balotelli (27), Divock Origi (13) and Borini (8) pale in comparison. Neither the stats nor form lie. New arrival Benteke is Liverpool’s best option.
Andy Lewis, News Editor, thinks NO
When your track record includes Fabio Borini, Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert it is little wonder news of Brendan Rodgers spending big on a striker doesn’t inspire confidence.
Christian Benteke is a good player, there’s no question, but all this ‘proven in the Premier League’ chat which tends to accompany such signings is as nonsensical as it is basic.
That’s because it has dribbled repeatedly from the mouths of dead-eyed ex-pros in the Sky Sports studio and seeped into the everyday footballing lexicon. Were Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing not ‘proven in the Premier League’ before their risible efforts in a Red shirt?
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There is no guarantee Benteke’s transition will be an effortless one. Assuming full fitness and total commitment on the player’s part, an assessment of Benteke’s strengths and weaknesses, those of his team-mates and the tactics employed by the manager are more relevant than any mound of statistics.
Indeed, it was pertinent to start this argument off on the topic of Rodgers, who has struggled to reinvent his side in the post-Luis Suarez gloom. The signing of Benteke suggests he will try something different again next season. If he doesn’t then the man from Villa could prove as big a dud as the aforementioned Kop ‘legends’.
Benteke is formidable in the air – winning aerial battles is one of his great strengths and headers his most reliable source of goals.
Liverpool, however, are often very narrow and their wingers tend to drift inside rather than offer genuine width and a plentiful supply of crosses.
Benteke is fantastic with his back to goal, which could be a serious weapon with Firmino and Philippe Coutinho floating around behind him. But how often do you remember Liverpool hitting the striker early with a direct pass last season?
If Benteke is to thrive at Anfield then Rodgers must use tactics to play to the muscular 24-year-old’s very clear attributes. As if you had put him into last season’s Liverpool team – one of the bluntest in memory – then he might not have done much better than their existing rabble of misfit forwards.
It’s a signing that feels like a compromise, and if it is to work then that is exactly what Rodgers must now do.
