It is a well-held opinion that Christian Benteke has struggled at Crystal Palace for the past three years.
Following a brilliant 17-goal debut campaign in 2016/17, the former Liverpool man has scored just six goals in all competitions for the Eagles since.
Those are not great figures in anyone’s eyes but, considering the fact Benteke cost Palace an initial £27 million – potentially rising to £32 million – they appear worse.
As a well-documented opinion, why are we bringing it back up?
The arrival of Benteke’s international compatriot, Michy Batshuayi, on a second loan spell has led to the emergence of an embarrassing statistic.
Former Marseille striker Batshuayi spent the second half of the 2018/19 campaign with Palace. In that time he netted five Premier League goals, while also scoring in the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Watford.
Compare that with our Benteke statistic and our point becomes a little clearer. Batshuayi managed to notch the same amount of goals in a matter of months as the £27 million man has managed in three years.
It is a statistic that portrays the £120k-a-week striker in a negative light.
Hopefully, Palace’s number 17 can use his fellow Belgian’s arrival as motivation to get himself back among the goals.
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