Alan Smith claims Aston Villa signing London-based striker would be a ‘huge gamble’

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Aston Villa are on the lookout for a striker during the January transfer window after their squad suffered a number of big injuries.

Alan Smith has claimed that Aston Villa potentially re-signing Christian Benteke this month would be a ‘huge gamble’ from the relegation-threatened club.

The Sky Sports pundit thinks Benteke’s ‘lack of goals’ in recent seasons would be a worrying sign as injury-hit Villa look for more attacking options in the final third.

The Telegraph have claimed that Villa have asked fellow Premier League rivals Crystal Palace about Benteke, with the London club telling the Midlands outfit that they are only willing to sell their player.

Speaking on The Debate on Sky Sports (08/01/20 at 10:40 pm), former striker, Smith, discussed the possibility of Benteke making a return to the Midlands.

“The striking position particularly, I mean all those clubs down the bottom will be looking at anybody that’s available,” Smith told Sky Sports. “And it’s going to have to be a gamble.

“Benteke would be a huge gamble. Given how he has performed over the last few years – there has obviously been a total lack of goals and that knocks onto your performance then. I think the way Roy Hodgson plays doesn’t play to his strength really. You think of Sam Allardyce, he was getting the ball forward and he was winning his knocks on.

“I mean talking to the backroom staff there [at Palace] they say he has been no trouble. His attitude has been good and he’s trying. And it’s quite an unusual situation, isn’t it?! You saw how he was at Villa, at Liverpool it didn’t quite happen, but still, he had an impact. But now he’s almost forgotten about him.”

It would be some story if Benteke would not just return to Villa, but return to B6 and rediscover that form he once had in the Claret & Blue shirt many moons ago.

Benteke, who moved to Selhurst Park for £27 million [BBC Sport] in 2016, has struggled for large parts of his time in London.

He is yet to score a goal for Palace this season, but could the answer to his problems be returning to the club that put him on the map in the first place? If it were to work out then it would be quite a remarkable story because many are surprised at how far the once highly-tipped Belgian has fallen.