Why Christian Benteke to Tottenham would make no sense
According to The Independent, Tottenham have targeted Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke as one of their targets in this window.
The report suggests that Spurs boss Jose Mourinho wants two strikers this month to reinforce the attacking unit. After selling Fernando Llorente and Vincent Janssen, the North London club failed to sign a striker to partner Harry Kane.
After initial success in his reign at the club, the Portuguese tactician seems to have lost his way in recent weeks. With just one win in the last five league games, Tottenham have slipped to 8th in the table.
Their recent losses to Southampton and Liverpool clearly highlighted their lack of consistency in some departments.
And the injury to Harry Kane has made it worse for them. And so the manager has to make some important signings and it is no doubt that they are in desperate need of a striker. However, going for Christian Benteke would not be an ideal solution to their attack.
The Belgian international has made over 200 appearances in England’s top division with Liverpool, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace. His best days came when he was at Villa Park for three years, for whom he scored 49 goals in 101 games.
His move to Liverpool in 2015 did not help him as he became an outcast at Anfield and a year later, he moved to Selhurst Park. He scored 17 goals in his first season with Palace and had a decent strike rate.
But Benteke’s fortunes have stooped low in the next three years. He seems to have lost his goalscoring touch and has scored a mere 4 goals since the start of the 2017/18 season. In the course of time, he has featured in 66 games for Palace.
The 29-year-old hasn’t found the net this season despite getting his fair share of chances. The once most-feared striker has diminished with time and if he does not make quite the impact at Tottenham, they would be clearly wasting their resources on him.
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Verdict
Benteke has been out of form and it would be very difficult for him to fill the boots of Kane, who has scored so regularly for the Lilywhites.
Therefore, it would be wise of Mourinho and his side to approach a young and in-form striker who can play second fiddle to the English captain when he returns.