Chelsea, Spurs or Aston Villa – Where will Christian Benteke be next season?

It will be a risk for Benteke to be able to dislodge his compatriot Lukaku (facing) for the World Cup 2014 if he left Aston Villa for a bigger club

Spurs is by the most logical destination for Benteke if he was to move. They need a new striker and unlike Chelsea, they do not possess a player with Benteke’s skill set.

Defoe is a capable goalscorer, but he’s very streaky. He’s found his level now, and he’s a good but not great Premier League forward.

Adebayor has an abundance of talent but just cannot get it on to the field. He looks disinterested against all but the very biggest teams.

Benteke would give Spurs a physical presence upfront to stop Spurs getting bullied against tougher defences. Benteke’s power and pace would bring Spurs a different option. They could either go direct to him, or his runs would make space for Gareth Bale to roam around in.

Spurs aren’t far away from being able to compete for the Premier League title. They have the most destructive player in the league in Gareth Bale, but he needs helps. They need someone to put chances away. A clinical cutting edge in front of goal is what they missed last year and Benteke has a supreme goals to chance ratio which he showed last season in a Villa team that doesn’t possess the quality that Spurs do.

However, the problem for Spurs is going to be the price. Villa are thought to want £25m. Even for Chelsea, that’s a very risky price to pay for a player with only one season of serious production under his belt. Spurs got torched on Roman Pavlyuchenko under similar circumstances.

It’s not to say Benteke wouldn’t be a huge success, but it’s still a risk. Can Spurs justify breaking their club-record to get Benteke?

If they are serious about keeping Bale long-term, this is the kind of ambition that could impress him but it’s out of their usual comfort zone. They will no doubt be pondering as to whether he can keep up his production rate from last season, when looking at the price. They can’t afford him to start slowly as he did at Villa.

It could mean Benteke stays at Villa by default, but if he does stay there, it’ll be the best thing for him. At Villa he is the absolute key man. Without his goals they would have gone down. As he emerged as a dominant target man, Villa had a run of form that kept them in the Premier League.

What happens if he goes to Chelsea and doesn’t get on the field often enough? Will he still make the Belgium World Cup squad? What happens if he goes to Spurs and struggles initially. Will they be able to afford to let him settle in. If he doesn’t score in his first six or seven games, will they be able to stay patient with as they chase the top four?

Another season at Villa, as their star man, with a 20+ goal season could see him overtake Lukaku in the Belgium pecking order if Lukaku gets stuck on Chelsea’s bench.

Villa have made some impressive signings this summer and could be a dark horse in the cup competitions. Benteke needs to pull his request back and sit tight this season and show he’s a bona fide star. If he does that, he’ll get his big move and Villa will get their big transfer fee.

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