Aston Villa journalist Dan Bardell has made a big claim on Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke.
This comes after Bardell recently made an appearance on YouTube fan channel The Villa View, looking back over Villa’s 2-0 win over Palace at the weekend.
Reports last week suggested that the striker’s agent had claimed Benteke turned down a return to Villa Park in January – though Bardell poured cold water on those rumours in his post-match thoughts.
On the topic of Benteke and a potential return to Villa Park for the striker, Bardell shared his opinion of the Belgian.
He said: “I think that stuff about him coming back, from what I believe and what I know, that isn’t true at all. His agent’s talking rubbish. His agent likes a chat and from what I believe and what I hear, that isn’t true at all.
“I think it was more the other way around and the agent touting him around at clubs from what I hear, but it’s sad to see him regress but I stand by that there’s a good striker there – Palace just don’t play in a way that suits him at all; they don’t get the ball in early enough. I actually think if he was playing in our team, I think he’d score goals, because I think we put a lot of crosses in and a lot of good deliveries and I think he’d be the man to get on the end of it.
“I don’t think he’s lost that. He’s just having to do a lot more on the floor at Palace than he used to have to do at Villa. The whole Villa team was built around him. If you think about [Wilfried] Zaha, [Jordan] Ayew, [Andros] Townsend, who are the main people that play on the wings for Palace, they never put the ball in straight away, do they? So as a striker, you’re always having to adjust your movement. I just don’t think it suits him at all. I think he’d score goals in our side.”
During his spell at the club, Benteke, who is currently valued at £9.45 million, managed to score 49 goals and provide 12 assists in 101 appearances in a Villa shirt (per Transfermarkt).
Since signing for Palace in 2016, Benteke has made a total of 115 appearances for the club, but has only registered 23 goals and 10 assists along the way.
Did Christian Benteke make a mistake leaving Villa?
Yes
No
In the match at the weekend, Benteke was given a red card after the final whistle as Villa secured all three points (per BBC Sport).
TIF Thoughts…
Looking at his goals and assists record for both clubs, it’s clear that Benteke hasn’t had the same impressive form at Palace that he had at Villa.
However, with Bardell claiming that Benteke could well find that previous form once again if he were currently playing in this Villa side, this just goes to show the confidence he has in the Belgian as a player.