Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke ‘no longer has a future’ at the club and could be set for a return to Belgium, according to a report from Walfoot.
As well as passing comment on the 29-year-old’s future with the Eagles, the Belgian outlet reported that Club Brugge are interested in the forward. The south London club signed the player from Liverpool back in August 2016 in a deal reportedly worth £28.08m, and he’s now worth £9.45m (figures as per Transfermarkt).
In 115 appearances for Palace, Benteke has scored 23 times and provided his teammates with 10 assists. The experienced Belgian international, who has played for his country 37 times to date didn’t however enjoy a particularly successful campaign last season.
Having appeared 24 times in the English top flight for Roy Hodgson’s side, he only found the back of the net twice (as per Transfermarkt). Between the 2012/13 and 2016/17 campaigns, Benteke only failed to hit double figures in terms of his goal return once. However, since the start of the 2017/18 season, he’s managed a total of just six Premier League goals – therefore you could argue the player has been in decline for some time.
Are Christian Benteke's best days behind him?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
In the aforementioned report, it is claimed that Brugge are hoping to ‘attract him to allow him to gain confidence and to restore his image with [Roberto] Martinez’ ahead of the European Championships next summer.
Although the former Aston Villa forward has played no fewer than 225 times in the Premier League, taking all of the above into consideration, in our view, it could be argued that he is no longer performing at the level required to be a success in England a move to Belgium may go some way in helping him get his career back on track.