Moving Target – Christian Benteke

Following weeks of speculation, Liverpool finally announced the arrival of Christian Benteke in a £32 million deal. The Belgian became the Merseysiders’ seventh new signing in a summer of transition as Brendan Rodgers’ side looks to put last season’s disappointing sixth-place finish behind them.

Speaking to the club’s official website just minutes after putting pen to paper, the 24-year-old thanked the Reds’ upper management for sanctioning the move, before lauding the Merseysiders’ storied past:

“I’m very happy to be here and I would like to thank the owners, Ian [Ayre] and of course the manager for their massive effort to bring me here. It’s hard to show your emotion when you’ve just come from doing something [like this] but of course I am very happy. I know Liverpool is a big story. They’ve won [many] league titles and the Champions League five times and of course the UEFA Cup and a lot of trophies. I know it’s a big club. I think there are quality players, a lot of good players with big names of course. I’m happy to be part of this team and will [try] to help this team reach its goals.”

The History

Born in Zaire (DR Congo), Benteke’s family emigrated at an early age to Liege, Belgium. A two-year stint at the youth academy of Standard Liege was followed by a move to Genk in 2006. The striker earned his first start for the Belgian club during the 2007/08 league campaign and went on to notch two assists in seven appearances. After making just six starts (three goals and two assists) in the next full season, Benteke was shipped out to fellow Belgian Pro League outfit K.V.Kortrijk in the summer of 2009.

Benteke excelled in his new surrounds, tallying 15 goals and nine assists across 36 outings. Nonetheless, the robust striker spent the following campaign on loan again, teaming up with top-tier side KV Mechelen. Having bagged seven goals and one assist in 25 appearances, Benteke was finally afforded a run of starts for Genk in the 2011/12 season, notching 16 goals in 32 league outings. Alerted by his impressive strike rate, Aston Villa landed the Belgium international in August 2012.

Benteke’s debut season for the Villains served up 19 goals and four assists in 34 appearances, trumping Dwight Yorke’s record (18) for the most goals amassed in a Premier League season by a Villa player. The former Genk marksman was subsequently named as the runner-up to Gareth Bale for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

Knee, groin and Achilles complaints limited Benteke to 24 starts in the 2013/14 season. A run of 11 blanks from Gameweek 5 marked a downturn of form that saw him chalk up a less eye-catching haul of ten goals and three assists across 26 appearances. This lack of rhythm carried over to the season just past, with Paul Lambert’s more pragmatic tactics seeing Benteke fail to score in 14 of his first 18 appearances. The appointment of Tim Sherwood in the Villa Park hot seat then triggered a dramatic upturn in fortunes, with Benteke recording 11 goals in as many starts to close out the campaign.

On the international stage, Benteke represented Belgium at every youth level from Under-17 to Under-21, scoring 24 times in 37 outings. He has subsequently found the net in seven of his 24 appearances for the senior side.

The Prospects

With Daniel Sturridge still recuperating from hip surgery undergone at the end of the previous campaign, Benteke looks set to leap ahead of Danny Ings, Divock Origi, Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert to spearhead Liverpool’s attack in the campaign ahead. The Merseysiders’ pre-season encounters so far suggest that Brendan Rodgers will favour a 4-3-3 system next term, though the Reds boss has also briefly trialled a midfield diamond formation in the early stages of the summer.

Certainly, Rodgers will be looking to Benteke to improve a stuttering attack that ranked seventh for goals scored (52) in the previous campaign, tallying 48 fewer than during the 2013/14 season, when Luis Suarez and Sturridge tormented top-flight backlines.

Aside from the £32m outlay, the underlying stats also reinforce the notion that he’s the prime selection for Rodgers in Sturridge’s absence. Benteke’s shot conversion rate (16.3%) far surpassed any of Liverpool’s forwards last year, with fellow new boy Ings next in line with 11.3%. Given that he’d scored 18.3% and 14.9% in his first two years in the top flight, the big Belgian’s record suggests he should prove a reliable source of goals, providing he’s given the chances.

The main issue, though, is whether Benteke will fit Liverpool’s possession-based style of play. In his three years in the Premier League, his aerial ability was key to his success – in terms of successful headers, the big Belgian sat second amongst forwards in 2012/13 (with 269) and 2013/14 (with 220) before moving up to first in 2014/15, with 187. Given that Liverpool ranked second-lowest and lowest for crosses over the last two seasons, it’s fair to say he has some adapting to do, with the Reds unlikely to play to his perceived strengths. In saying that, it’s worth noting that only 13 of Benteke’s 42 Premier League goals have came from headers.

Yet to feature in pre-season, Benteke will need to step up his match sharpness with the new campaign just over two weeks away. Priced at 8.5 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, Benteke will challenge the likes of Graziano Pelle (8.0) and Romelu Lukaku (8.0) for a position in our squads. All three suffered from prolonged barren spells last term, yet the former’s late spree gives us the greatest confidence heading into the new term. Certainly, with the likes of Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho feeding him, he should be afforded plenty of chances and may also stake a claim for spot-kick duties, which would certainly have a knock-on effect on Jordan Henderson’s Fantasy potential, given the latter looked at the head of the penalty queue prior to Benteke’s arrival.

The fixtures are somewhat patchy for Liverpool over the first few Gameweeks. Although trips to Stoke, Arsenal and United are less than appealing, the Reds host Bournemouth, West Ham, Norwich and Villa in the first seven Gameweeks, with such a schedule offering Benteke the chance to make an immediate impact. Certainly, Sturridge’s return will need to be monitored, though if the new boy makes his mark early, Rodgers is likely to ease the injury-plagued former Chelsea man back into the fold.

Further Reference

Christian Benteke Wikipedia Page

Christian Benteke Transfer Markt Page

Christian Benteke YouTube Highlights