It seems Arsenal and Tottenham aren’t only battling for a spot in the Champions League next season. They’ll also be battling it out for the right to sign Christian Benteke, the only good thing about Aston Villa this season, with his departure looking closer and closer as his team takes another step towards relegation.
At the moment, Villa are safe, but that depends on the results on Sunday. If Wigan won’t win their next match, they are safe, but while Villa will try and do everything to keep the youngster who has name written all over anything positive that has happened to them this season, everyone knows it’s going to be quite difficult keeping him in Birmingham, especially with Randy Lernder not being the one to turn down the kind of money they’ll be offered for him.
Tottenham have been disappointed with their strike force this season, overshadowed by the ever improving Gareth Bale. Adebyor has scored only 4 league goals this season; Jermain Defoe has netted in 11, but Spurs are looking for more. Benteke, hailed as the next Didier Drogba has had a marvelous opening season in England after arriving from Belgium, scoring 19 goals and adding 4 assists on a team that completely relies on his abilities.
Things haven’t been much better for Arsenal up front. Arsene Wenger changed forwards all through the season, eventually opting for Olivier Giroud with his 12 goals, but he’s looking for something more, something better. Theo Walcott is the team’s top scorer, but he is mostly on the right wing. Other attempts with Lukas Podolski and Gervinho haven’t been successful as well.
Benteke, a Belgium international as well, is only 22, and while he cost Villa £7 million to bring over from Genk, the chances of him leaving for anything less than double that amount are marginal. Aston Villa would love to see £20 million coming out of this deal. The only question is – will anyone be willing to pay that much?