Benteke tracked by top sides

After an impressive start to life in the Premier League, Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke has unsurprisingly been attracting attention from some of the league’s top sides. According to the Mirror Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool are all keeping tabs on the Belgian who has bagged 11 goals so far in his debut season in England.

Fortunately for Villa fans Benteke will not be allowed to leave during the January window as he has already played for two clubs this season, however in the summer the Midlands club will surely struggle to keep hold of their top scorer, whether they avoid the drop or not.

If Villa do drop down to the Championship then their entire squad will surely have to be trimmed to remove the large number of players on bumper contracts, and Benteke will certainly be one of the first to be snapped up. Even if they can avoid relegation Villa’s fortunes appear to be on such a downward spiral that it is unlikely that the clubs start players will be keen to stay.

In recent years owner Randy Learner has cashed in a number of his clubs best players including Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, James Milner and Stewart Downing without really signing effective replacements. Paul Lambert will be hoping the man he signed from Genk for £7.5m this summer is not the latest on this list, although he may be more focused on keeping his own job after his side crashed out of both domestic clubs to lower league opposition this week.

Jack Johnson

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