Christian Benteke was a firm fan favourite during his time at Aston Villa as Bjorn Engels is the next Belgian to join the Midlands club.
Bjorn Engels has stated that he will ‘try to score a lot’ of goals for Aston Villa, but not at the standard and volume of former Villa Park hitman Christian Benteke.
Centre-back Engels became the latest Belgian to sign for Villa when he made the switch from French side Stade Reims on Tuesday [Villa’s official website].
During his time at the club, Benteke was a firm fan favourite, and when he left Villa, he made a £32.5 million switch to Liverpool in 2015 [BBC Sport], but fast forward to the present and he’s struggling at Crystal Palace.
Villa’s eighth signing of the summer was asked about emulating his fellow countryman Benteke, and whilst he understands he won’t match his goal record, he did promise he will try his utmost best to ‘score a lot’ for the newly-promoted side.
“He scored a lot of goals, I will try to score a lot, but not like him, of course,” Engels told Villa’s official YouTube account. “He had some very good seasons here, he scored a lot of goals and was very important for Aston Villa.”
If Engels can have half the success Benteke had during his time at Villa then he will be for a very good ride.
Despite Benteke’s recent demise at Crystal Palace, he was a lethal striker during his time at Villa Park, as Engels will be hoping to have the same impact in defence for Dean Smith’s side.
There are centre-back spots up for grabs ahead of Villa’s first Premier League game against Tottenham, as the pre-season friendly encounters will provide fans with clues as to who will start the opening game of the season.
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