Benteke’s agent rubbishes Chelsea link.
Christian Benteke’s agent Eris Kismet has vehemently denied the possibility that his client will move to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Kismet said it was more likely “that Christian would go to Turkse Rangers,” as reported in The Evening Standard
Turkse Rangers play in the seventh tier of Belgium football, and Benteke would probably be out of their price range.
Benteke becomes the second striker target in a week to scoff at Chelsea’s interest, after Luis Suarez told Uruguayan radio that links to the Blues made him “laugh”.
The Belgian striker is now expected to move to Tottenham, as they will be more likely to offer him guaranteed first team football in the run up to the World Cup. It remains to be seen whether they will pay Aston Villa’s £25m valuation however, and Liverpool could also become interested if they were forced into a sale of their enigmatic Uruguayan striker.
Chelsea’s interest in Benteke seems strange considering they already have their own young Belgian powerhouse forward in Romelu Lukaku, who has returned from a successful loan-spell at West Brom for the upcoming season. The arrival of Benteke would limit Lukaku’s opportunities, which could be slim anyway with Demba Ba and Fernando Torres already competing for the lone striking position.
Strikers have traditionally struggled to implement themselves at Chelsea ever since Roman Abramovich bought the club ten years ago.
Mateja Kezman, Hernan Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko, Adrian Mutu and Fernando Torres have all arrived at Stamford Bridge for big-money, and have badly struggled to live up their price-tags. Only Didier Drogba has consistently performed at a world class level upfront for Chelsea.
Due to modern formations, only one out and out striking berth is available at most top clubs. Benteke and his agent have probably recognised that cementing Chelsea’s central striking role for himself could be difficult, and at this point in his career, the move would not be worth the risk.
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