Many Arsenal fans and people connected with the club, including our all time top scorer Thierry Henry, believe that Arsene Wenger needs to sign another centre forward in the upcoming summer transfer window. But while we would all love to get an Aguero or a Messi, there are not too many about and there are clubs willing to outbid us for them.
One player that has not really been linked with us recently is the Aston Villa and Belgium striker Christian Benteke and I find that a bit strange. He may have struggled at times this season under Paul Lambert but has found his shooting boots again under Tim Sherwood, banging in 11 goals from 12 games and steering Villa to a meeting with Arsenal in the FA cup final.
There are plenty of rumours talking about Benteke and a possible move this summer, with clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United said to be interested, but as reported by The Mirror, the 24-year old has let it be known that he will not make any decisions on his future until after the two international games Belgium will play at the end of the season.
With two years left on his contract, Villa want around £30 million for Benteke and that seems pretty reasonable and I can understand him wanting to further his career, but I wonder if he is putting off our Premier League rivals in the hope of the Gunners joining the race.
Remember that Benteke revealed his love for Arsenal and his desire to play for us a few short months after becoming a Villa player back in 2012 in a Sky Sports report and I cannot see why that would have changed.
He said, “I am not afraid of making enemies at Aston Villa by saying I lov eArsenal. There are worse things one can say.
“I am a Villa player for now. They are the right club at the right time for me. I have fulfilled a dream by playing in the Premier League. Now it is about staying as long as possible.
“Villa are the beginning of my career in England. I have not just joined any club – although I didn’t know their full history, I knew they’d played in the Champions League and won plenty of titles and cups.
“Arsenal are the club I love. I like their philosophy of selecting young players and, besides, they had Thierry Henry in their team.
“For me, he is the best player in the world and he was my boyhood idol.”
So should Wenger give this talented striker his dream chance of playing for Arsenal? I say YES!
It would be a gamble….I know we have some funds to spend but we are not in a position to gamble 30mil
We Just don’t seem to know the players we need to complete this Team *SmH*
Benteke would be a gamble true, I would want Martinez or bacca they are both proven strikers and at the same price as benteke. I don’t have faith in benteke. Thumbs up for Martinez and down for benteke
you think benteke is a gamble and call for martinez or bacca? i bet u are colombian…bacca is not good enought…martinez is a better striker than benteke, agreed…but benteke is 4 years younger and he has EPL experence…i think benteke represents lower risk than martinez, who actually is 28 / 29 yeas old and probably needs 1 year to get used to EPL (not everybody is alexis, and u have to consider martinez comes from a lower league).
Benteke I believe is lower risk… he is younger, he is doing it NOW in the EPL while Martinez will need to prove himself. Oh and not to mention that we already have a late 20’s CF and if you look at what Wenger said then you will come to understand that another CF who is towards the end of his 20s is not going to happen.
Personally I think Wenger is looking for a player to take Theos role as Wenger appears to now be saving Theo for that CF role, he hasn’t played him out on the right and put Ramsey there although Theo has been coming on FOR GIROUD.
This leads me to players like Dybala, Isco and maybe even Gotze.
If we dont get better, then benteke will b an upgrade otherwise dont want us 2start with og12 as first choice striker
Shows how little you know, guess this seasons 0.76 (current) goals per 90 mins isn’t good enough for you?
I mean it was higher than this a few games ago but Giroud has gone on a bit of a dry patch, he really needs another rest. He has done better every time he has had a rest but we tend to play him till he can’t do the job properlly.
How few games do you actually watch? PMSL! I’m sorry but your comment indicates you have only ever watched MOTD, you do not get to see the hard work Giroud puts in which gives other players oppertunities to score but then again MOTD doesnt pick up on that too well either.
Benteke is an upgrade on Giroud, no doubt, and I would be happy to have him in Arsenal … However, I would like to look for better options, if any …
Yeah, right. And Sterling is better than Suarez.
Another mindless MOTD fanboi who has probably never watched a full 90 mins.
Fail to recognise the hard work that Giroud puts in for the players around him, how he can hold the ball up aginst the bleeding Hulk if he had to, to help his team mates maintain the possesion.
Giroud isn’t the flair CF who gets on MOTD every 5 mins and to be honest I am getting sick of you dumb mofos who do not know what football is! Do you think Ramsey would of gotten half as many goals when he was playing in the form he was in at the beginning of last season if it wasn’t for Giroud who bullied and pushed the opponants def around to create gaps in which Ramsey exploted fantasticly?
How about looking at how we was the top team for scoring from set pieces in feb, nothing to do with the big man upfront though?
If Giroud had of been a big name buy then you all would be sucking his dong in appreciation, because we now have funds and Girouds name isn’t as big as Messi… well fans want us to buy anyone!
Not good enough
Cavani, Suarez or Morata
Morata ? he ain’t that good, one goal against RM won’t make him special, he has so much to do to become in the list with Suarez and Cavani
Actually it’s two goals.Goals that send Juventus to the final.
Cavanni aint that good either he’s inconsistent and averages about one goal every three games, I agree that giroud is a great players but is similar in performance to cavanni in terms of consistency we need a goalscoring monster and there aint many around
Cavani used to play striker (palermo, napoli) and not RW … it is also difficult to shine as a striker playing with Ibra …
if he manages to restore his old self, no one can stop him…
True True I think its a real shame we abandoned the Higuian thing to concentrate on Suarez and then made a real F@ck up of that too, Mind you that tw@t Steve Gerrard had a hand in that too.
Still think Wenger is gonna stick with Giroyd rather than twist and spend, and the way Wenger works you can see benteke being a buy in simply cos he’s going to be cheaper than Cavanni both in porice and wages.
Suarez…? Who’s your pharmacist?
Cavani for sure, but Benteke is a good deal better than Morata. Obvious you acquire knowledge on the back of a CL semi. Good stuff
I’d prefer us to nail down a ST who has the ability to walk into our team next year and drive us to a Premier league title. Benteke has potential for days, but he’d be understudy to Giroud and that’s a sideways move in the short-term even though I’m a big Benteke fan and have said time and again he’s a future star.
For me the type of ST to buy THIS SUMMER is from the Higuain/Cavani/Benzema bracket, then perhaps the Reus/Pedro, maybe Jackson Martinez at a push, bracket. Benteke is in there with your Lacazette’s/Dybala’s, tons of potential but maybe won’t hit the ground running from next season as THE MAIN MAN. We lack that presence/fear factor up top for me, love Giroud and rate him highly but we would be a different animal with one of the real elite ST’s mentioned.
All being said I wouldn’t be opposed to Benteke, guy just turned 24 and will soon become a top class ST imo. Just itching to have a squad ready for next year that will compete.
Agree on everything you mentioned except for Benteke being an understudy to Giroud … we use to overhype our players, that would be plain favoritism from wenger if we sign him …
I bet Sherwood would play Benteke ahead of Giroud in aston villa … the guy has everything Giroud has and much more (except for the injury record)…
Yeaa I find it hard to objectively debate Giroud with a guy called “No Giroud, I’m happy”.
I think your bias is taking over here….Benteke would be Girouds understudy were we to buy him, Giroud IS a better player on the whole for now. Give it a season and things may quickly change (my stance on Benteke is clear), but that’s why I’d prefer a more established ST in the vein of Higuain.
Qualities:
Giroud- Hold up (but not against top defenders Tery, Cahil, etc), short pass, hard working, team player, defensive duties (set-pieces), injuries
Benteke- Hold up, short pass, better dribbler, long shots, finishing, positioning, defensive duties (set-pieces), can play with his back to the goal and also drop deep and face the goal when marked
weakness:
Giroud- very slow, easily marked, poor finishing (not wc finisher), technique
Benteke- injuries, not a hard worker
If you look the stats for the since 2012/2013, they have almost similar records except that Benteke scored like total of 19 goals (correct me if I’m wrong) in his 1st season and also have a decent record against top teams, keep in mind he plays for AstonVilla not Arsenal where you get much more chances and better players around.
Regarding my name, I am going to change it at the end of this season because I believe that Giroud improved a bit from last season and frustrated me less this season..
Im with you as far as Benzema and Higuain are concerned but I worry that Cavanni is over priced in terms of wages as oppsed to his stats which are NOT that good at present
I wont mind having Benteke. He is terrific in the air, fast and strong. I would say he would be an upgrade on our existing strikers. Upgrade on Giroud in terms of pace and upgrade on Welback in terms of finishings.
So many shortsighted fans here. No one can link up play, win possessions from goal kicks, score better with their head( too bad we don’t lob the ball over the top every game, not in our philosophy I guess) and defend set pieces in the league than OG. He held up his end this year with goals along with Alexis but our right side and Santi and Rambo have been lacking with goals. Oh and Ozil should become more a scorer as well.
Partly agree with you and partly don’t here mate, OG has improved tremendously and is a key part of the squad BUT he is inconsistent, misses lots of chances and is NOT the beast that we really need, I also feel he’s feeling a touch safe in his role and that’s what directs his inconsistency. Benteke would have a lot to prove and is far better in front of goal that welback will ever be and is far stronger and more powerful. if nothing else it would give us another option as well as keeping OG on his toes.
Benteke can offer all what you said and much more …
Is it even possible to ask for a honest question knowing how much of fan boys we arsenal fans are? Something like being objective is impossible for many here.
Chelsea has only 4
more EPL goals than us.
We just have to get
more out of who we have.
Giroud has 14 with 3 months out.
Add 7 to his tally over a full season.
Ramsey 6 Wellbeck 4 Walcott 2 Oxlade 0
They all should get 10 minimum
So that’s another 35 goals = 100 goals.
Even bench warmer Vermalen is set to win to medals…..
He warmed the medical
table most of the season 🙂
He wud hav warmed d bench even if fit
Benteke might hav some love for arsenal but none of it matters wen he wud actually b luking to leave Aston villa. If Chelsea are in for him its going to b real tough for us. But its important dat just dis once we beat Chelsea in luring benteke to d emirates. Chelsea have regularly stepped ahead of us in chase of players like Mata Cahill hazard etc. We must make few statement signings dis season, one of Dem being benteke.
Hes young, has speed stregth golascoring ability, but wat wud b most important is dat if he replaces giroud we wudnt hav to change our style of attach once again. He offers same and yet more qualities den giroud. We shud have 2 world class players in every position, and dats y we need a striker, a dm and a gk.
Arsenal fans disslike the thougt about getting someone who doesnt look like a ruster.
Just keep it real and realise that he is good. Walcott off, him in, me happy.
Walcott is just not good enough to be a point man and if he isn’t now he never will be he’s ok as a squad player now but nothing more.
we just need to get rid of Wenger and every other thing will fall into place 🙁 🙁 🙁
Would be all for Benteke personally. I see a lot of debate comparing Giroud’s and Benteke’s qualities. I think both at their best is extremely close, would be fantastic to see them competing for leading the line.
Benteke’s got strength speed youth & can finish! Would be good competition for OG . Especially if he’s having a stinker, sub him for Benteke . Play the inform striker. worth a punt .