Wesley Moraes suffered a cruciate ligament injury in early-January that ruled him out for the rest of the season, so Aston Villa could bring in a replacement before the transfer window shuts. Christian Benteke is one player they’ve been linked with in January, but it would be a mistake to bring the 29-year-old back.
Benteke has been short of form and playing time at Crystal Palace this season, racking up less than 500 minutes of Premier League football across 15 appearances. The Belgian international is yet to get off the mark too, and only has one league goal to his name since April 2018.
With Palace having Jordan Ayew and Cenk Tosun in attack, Benteke could be made available for sale this month. Palace recently extended his deal to give them an extra year to cash on his signature, but it remains to be seen which club would pay to sign an out-of-form striker on £120k-per-week.
Villa have been playing without a recognised centre-forward since Wesley picked up his injury but bringing Benteke back to the club wouldn’t be a smart decision. He’s beloved among supporters after contributing 61 goals in 101 games between 2012 and 2015, but he’s longer the same player and would be a giant waste of money.
Stats from Transfermarkt.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
