Christian Benteke has been linked with a move away from Villa Park, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all said to be interested in the 22-year-old striker.
However, Paul Lambert insisted any interested clubs ‘better have a few quid in their pocket’ if they wish to sign the Belgium international.
Benteke, who signed for Aston Villa in the summer from Genk for £8 million, has netted 14 goals for Lambert’s side.
But with Villa in a relegation scrap, Benteke may look to jump ship if they are condemned to the Championship at the end of the season.
Lambert is eager to keep hold of the in-from striker and has warned that any potential bidders must be willing to dig deep to prise him away from Villa Park in the summer:
‘When the guy came into Villa, people were saying to me ‘who is he and why are you going for someone from Genk?’
‘With what he’s done, he’s a cult hero already. He’s only 22 and he’s got years and years ahead of him. He’s not at his peak, but what he’s done for me and for the club is fantastic.
‘If someone wanted to buy Christian, they’d better have a few quid in their pocket.’
When asked if Benteke had doubled in value since his arrival, Lambert responded:
‘Yes, by miles.
‘He’s not just going to walk out of here for the value he came for, that’s for sure.’
Taking all this into account, should Arsenal look to bring in Benteke at the end of the season?
Personally, I don’t think we are in desperate need of a striker. Olivier Giroud has finally settled at the club, Theo Walcott is coming into his own and Lukas Podolski can also be utilized in the centre-forward role if need be.
Benteke has done well for a struggling Villa side and, in my opinion, I think he should look to move if they are indeed relegated from the Premier League this season.
But I think a lot of teams will be unwilling to pay £16 million for a relatively unproven striker, Arsenal included.
Should Arsenal monitor Benteke’s situation this summer?
Let us know your thoughts below
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No…
Moving On swiftly….
Villa fan in peace. As much as I hate to say it Benteke is using us as a stepping stone to join a sky four club that is pretty obvious. You have a good chance of getting him as he has stated he would love to play for arsenal when he joined us and thought we were in London! As far as I’m concerned you can have him as anyone that joins us and immediately states his desire to play elsewhere shows complete lack of respect for the team that gave him his premer chance. As for 16m I think he will go for more than that especially as city are interested to. He is a good player but still has a few rough edges.
For the same reasons that I didn’t want Ba, I don’t want Benteke – if he has no respect for his current club, why would I want him to join ours?*
*Sol Campbell excepted, due to who his previous club was.
He went on strike at genk to get move to us. And would probably do the same if we refused to sell him. We have accepted he will be of in the summer even though he signed a four yr deal. We are a selling club now and always will be unless Lerner leaves. Hope you get him rather than city or utd.
I don’t particularly care if he wants to play for Villa, or not. However, for as long as he is at Villa, he should show your club respect in any comments he makes.
How he treats your club is more than likely how he would treat us if someone offered him higher wages elsewhere, and we’ve been through that enough times already – Cashley/Nasri/Van Persie.
No No No No No this guy seems like one of those one season wonders, remember when everybody though Rodallega was good
You are utterly wrong. How many games have you seen? How much do you know of him? Any idea how little Villa are creating for him to score 1 in 2? The fact that Bent can’t get near the first team says it all. We create nothing (hence no use for Bent) yet Benteke supermans chances out of nothing. He is a phenomenon.
If Villa sell Benteke for less than 25m it will be an absolute bargain. You can tell after 6 months if someone is a flash in the pan. Defenders get wise and their one or two tricks get found out. Benteke has everything. If his power is dealt with he gets clever and drops off, if his marker is quick he plays back to goal and lays it off. All that and he is 22 and still learning every day. As Arsenal are a club I like and he would generally improve their I wouldn’t mind him going to you. But at least talk about the man with some respect, and I’d also suggest you’d be foolish to take him this summer rather than giving him another year to progress at Villa Park.
Villa fan in peace. This is only paper talk at the minute so don’t get too carried away. The guy can be very good but is quite raw IMO. if we stay up he needs at least another season with us, not subjected to the ridiculous pressure that the media and a lot of gooners put on Wenger and the team. All the top world and European strikers in the past who have excelled over here have all been in their mid twenties before playing for the top sides, drogba, torres, henry, tevez, aguero, rvp, Suarez. I hope he gets good advice rather than listening to a greedy agent only interested in getting his client and himself mega money. Let the kid develop in his own time and he will get his money and success, all in good time. No doubt citeh or chelski will offer stupid money, his agent will put pressure on and he will be plonked on their bench mainly to stop anyone else having him. Good luck for the season.
Fair point Care. Would like him to stay but can’t blame the guy for wanting away. All he has with us is championship football or being involved in a relegation scrap. In 2-3 years time he will be the finished article but unless Lerner shows a massive dose of ambition in the summer and at least triples his wages then he will be off like a rat up a drain pipe. Even in the unlikely event that did happen we would still struggle to keep him as we can’t compete with London and Manchester.
You might be right but I personally don’t see us as relegation fodder next season if we survive this. The only differences between wba in the top half and us this season has been confidence and continuity of staff Steve Clarke excepted. Their players are no better than ours. If we survive I feel the confidence and togetherness shown by wba stoke and even Swansea to a point will be prevalent down the villa. If benteke goes that’s up to him but we must drive a very hard bargain with the buying club and have another gem to replace. I have confidence that pl can do that again as most of his signings have been an improvement on previous managers imo
Sorry this is an arsenal site, I will not air my thoughts on villa on here any further. Respect to you
16m?, he’ll be off to one of the genuine big teams this summer for 20m plus easy. He’s got it all
He’s a decent player. But I think Weimann is much better! Younger, quicker and a better finisher
Hmmmm if only Benteke will be a back up striker for GOONERS.
Villa fan.
If he were to leave – which I really hope he doesn’t – Arsenal wouldn’t be a bad location and I think he would fit in well. Although I do think he would cost more than the £16m quoted – if Sturridge is worth £12m etc. etc.. Him and Lukaka are both great strikers to play the sole striker role. Benteke has been excellent to score so much in a struggling Villa side with little creative service but he is also looking to assist.
Walcott, Podolski, Carzola and Wilshere playing off and creating for Benteke could be very productive. Very narrow view if you think you only need one proper no. 9 to compete with the big 4 when Utd have Rooney, RVP, Wellbeck, Chiquito; Citeh have Aguerro, Dzeko, Tevez and Guidetti; Chelsea have Torres, Ba and Lukaka to come back in. Competition and depth is essential for a top side looking to compete on 4 fronts I would have thought. Guess it depends if you secure CL again??
This guy shows what a quality striker is up to. He can score more than O12G if thrown into Arsenal squad. Arsenal create more for G12, but he misses them all. Premier league proven and fast becoming a beast. I would love to have him @ Arsenal than the Chamakh’s of this age..