A reported target of Alan Pardew’s from the beginning of this transfer window, Christian Benteke finally completed his move to Crystal Palace on Saturday, joining the Eagles for a club-record fee, reportedly in the region of £27 million.
The 25-year-old put pen to paper on a four-year contract at Selhurst Park and, speaking to the club’s official website, Pardew hopes the Belgian can fill the void up front that has been evident since the former Newcastle manager arrived in January 2015:
“We lack goals and some firepower and I would think Christian’s arrival will enhance every player within the squad. There’s one thing that’s always impressed me about him, he gets the sort of goals you would expect, but now and then he just pulls a rabbit out of the hat with a goal.”
The History
Born in Kinshasa, Zaire, Benteke’s family immigrated to Liege, Belgium in 1993. His big break came in 2004, when at the age of 14, he linked up with the Standard Liege youth set-up.
Two year later, the striker moved to fellow Belgian side Genk, and it was there where he made his professional debut in February 2008. In 2007/08, he bagged two assists in seven league appearances but, having only featured in three league matches in the first half of the following season, he re-joined Standard Liege in January 2009.
Between 2009 and 2011, Benteke took in loan spells at K.V. Kortrijk and KV Mechelen and began to make his mark. The striker scored 22 goals and claimed 10 assists in 56 league appearances, and returned to Genk ahead of the 2011/12 campaign.
Benteke scored 16 goals and registered nine assists in 36 league matches that season and, in the summer of 2012, Aston Villa swooped to sign the forward for a fee of around £7 million.
He instantly made an impression in the Premier League, scoring 19 goals and setting up four in 34 outings in his maiden campaign, and over the following two seasons he notched a further 23 goals and four assists in 55 Premier League appearances for a struggling midlands outfit.
Liverpool splashed out £32.5 million last summer to prise him away from Villa Park, but his sole season at Anfield was a disappointing one, yielding just nine goals and three assists in 29 league matches, with the striker falling out of favour under new Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.
Benteke featured regularly for Belgium at every youth level from Under 17 to Under 21, totalling 23 goals in 37 matches, before making his senior debut against Bulgaria in May 2010. An Achilles injury ruled him out of the 2014 World Cup, though he featured at Euro 2016 and currently has seven goals and three assists in 29 outings for his country.
The Prospects
Bearing in mind that Palace produced more crosses than any side in 2015/16, the acquisition of Benteke makes sense – since arriving in the Premier League, the Belgian has been amongst the top three forwards for successful headers in four consecutive seasons.
Pardew generally prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation, so Benteke should enjoy service from the likes of Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha in the wide areas, while Yohan Cabaye and Jason Puncheon provide the creativity through the middle and from set-pieces.
Townsend has provided more key passes than any team-mate this term and with a natural finisher on board, his prospects of assists look to have taken a turn for the better. The summer signing from Newcastle has created a chance every 36 minutes this season.
Benteke has also shown his dead-ball capabilities, more so during his time with Villa, but with Cabaye also at Palace, it remains to be seen if he can wrestle those off the Frenchman.
Cabaye scored three of his four spot-kicks last term, but he did miss his last one, against Newcastle in April. So there’s perhaps a chance Benteke may be in line to take over penalty duties, which, as already seen this season, can prove so critical to a player’s appeal.
The major plus regarding Benteke’s Fantasy prospects are Palace’s fixtures over the coming month or so. Saturday’s favourable home clash against Bournemouth is followed by a four further kind match-ups (mid, STO, sun, eve), handing the forward the ideal platform to hit the ground running for his new team.
Given that Palace having failed to score in their opening two matches, the need for a quality addition in attack couldn’t have been more evident.
Connor Wickham only managed to score five league goals last season, and has been far from prolific during his time in the top flight. Benteke will surely come in as Pardew’s favoured frontman, with the only doubt perhaps over his minutes against Bournemouth due to a lack of pre-season action.
A price of 7.4 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) also looks attractive given his goal scoring record over the past four seasons, and with owners of Sergio Aguero and Zlatan Ibrahimovic looking for value in the third forward slot, Benteke could fit the bill.
The Belgian’s ownership in FPL currently stands at just 2.4%, but if Palace play to his strengths, which they appear set up to do, there’s little doubt he could prove hugely successful.
While the likes of Alvaro Negredo, Andre Gray and Salomon Rondon have staked their claims for the cheap third forward spot in FPL, a player of Benteke’s calibre could prove hard to ignore should he thrive as the big fish in a small pond as he did during his time at Villa.
