Christian Benteke scored goals for fun for Aston Villa but he has just four in his last 52 Premier League games at Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace.
John Salako believes Christian Benteke has gone from ‘incredible’ to ‘awful’ and thinks Crystal Palace should have no plans to extend a contract which is due to expire at the end of the season, speaking to talkSPORT.
The Eagles have a difficult decision to make. Do they allow Benteke, a striker they paid £27 million for three years ago, to walk away for free in the summer of 2020?
Or do they risk offering him a new deal despite his horrific form over the last two seasons in the hope that they can still get some sort of a return on their investment?
Benteke took the Premier League by storm during his early years at Aston Villa but those formidable displays have been few and far between at Selhurst Park. The Belgian international has netted just four times in his last 52 games with none coming this season.
And Salako feels that Crystal Palace just have to accept that Benteke is a shadow of the player he once was and get rid.
“There is talk of Benteke getting a new contract and I am just flabbergasted!” said the former Palace hero, who has begged Roy Hodgson’s side to sign a replacement.
“The lad was incredible at Aston Villa – he was a beast. He also went and did well at Liverpool for a while, but then he got injured and I think he has struggled.
“But what has happened over the last two or three years of him at Palace – and I don’t like digging him out – he’s been awful. He just can’t do anything right; it’s amazing.”
Benteke has not been short of chances this season but he continues to flounder in front of goal, missing a glorious one-on-one opportunity against Wolves recently before Nuno Espirito Santo’s side went down the other end and grabbed an equaliser.
That just sums up the way things are going for Benteke right now.
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