Has Christian Benteke seen his last season at Anfield with all the rumors surrounding the player?
You would have thought we learned our lesson regarding signing strikers that do not suit our playing style. One waste of money to the next, from Andy Carroll to Christian Benteke. Both men in their respective teams before coming over to Liverpool were cult heroes.
Even when playing against Liverpool murdered and hassled our defenders. It says one of two things. One, our defenders are that bad that the worst strikers of the league can capitalize against us, or two, we really do not know what we require out of a striker as a transfer committee.
After our Carroll woes we did not expect Brendan Rodgers to go out and sign Christian Benteke and also at the price we did, for £32.5million.
After all Rodgeres was the manager who got rid of Carroll in the first place. We were/are never willing to match the fee for players who fit the bill far better than these two ever did. Which makes me think, does one plus one still equal two?
Now in Benteke’s case after Rodgers was sacked, Klopp came in and showed admiration for the player, saying he wanted him back at BVB and tried to sign Benteke from Aston Villa before resigning from the club. As if it was meant to be… but nope! It was not meant to be. Klopp probably thought to himself, “Wow! I’ve saved BVB quite a penny.”
Benteke had a tough time cementing his spot and making sure he was able to stay for another season after much criticism from media and fans alike. We know Christian Benteke has the quality to be a deadly finisher, but that is when playing to his strengths. Which for some reason we were unable to do majority of the season. And don’t get me wrong in few games and on few occasions, Liverpool would offer outstanding service and he would make a shambles of it.
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Some games would have a ratio of three perfect crosses delivered and he would get one headed shot on target. He was all out of sorts this season, making him a particularly a bad signing.
The only time I can remember Benteke came out and did well, was the first Arsenal game away. Him and Philippe Coutinho were showing promising movement together, awareness on and off the ball. First two outings against Man City and Chelsea, he looked good, the strike against Man United away, OUTSTANDING overhead goal!
So what do you do in a case like this? We know he always punishes us when playing against us. barely can punish other team when playing for us. He doesn’t suit our style of play, but offers a different dynamic on a whole, if a game needed to change up.
How do you decide after one season? Nobody knows I guess, i think it all boils down to if you like the player or not. Take the chance and win a prize(in his case get on the score sheet) or do you cut your losses of £32.5 mill and move on? We would be lucky to get anything close to £20 million for him?
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In my opinion, another season wouldn’t hurt to keep Benteke on. if Klopp felt he was worth the trouble of buying two seasons ago, maybe he thinks it’s worth our while hanging on to him.
Keep him, if he comes good, DAMN! Good job we made it work and at the same time keep him from going to a rival club or another club where he could possibly hurt us again. He has recently spoken out, saying it will be hard for him to stay at Liverpool FC and get regular first team football, but will only decide on his future once Euro 2016 has completed.
So to wrap this one up, I would say…Keep him, because I hate throwing away money. Let the value increase for him before we sell. A season isn’t too much for a proven “Aston Villa goal scorer”.
Otherwise If we get in a more prolific striker, but only IF! Then I will cut my losses and sell him before the summer transfer window closes.
That is me hinting I would love a player like Gonzalo Higuaín at Liverpool, heck I take anybody that has a name on a couple of t-shirts back here in South Africa.
Good luck for the Euros Big Ben, hope it turns your fortune around at Liverpool Football Club in the upcoming season.