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24-year-old Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke has remained at the forefront of strange transfer rumors ever since he scored 19 league goals in his inaugural Premier League season. That trend continues with the Mirror suggesting that he could serve as a replacement for Raheem Sterling if Sterling is sold this summer.
This comes off the back of Tim Sherwood quotes that acknowledge the possibility of Benteke leaving. "If a player doesn't want to play for the club any more and the club he wants to go to meets the valuation, it's best to let them go," said the Aston Villa manager. "It will be just a market value - what's out there."
The kicker: "I don't want to talk about selling Christian when I've got no intention of doing that. So it would have to be a lot of money for someone to get him off us."
So not only would Benteke -- a 6'3'' behemoth of a striker -- be "replacing" a feathery playmaker who supports attacks better than he leads them, but he would also cost "a lot of money."
Benteke is a decent player. He's scored double digit goals in all three seasons that he's played in the Premier League, and at 24 he is theoretically about to enter his prime. However, he plays nothing like Sterling and therefore could not possibly be seen as a replacement. Moreover, there seems to be better (although probably not bigger) young goalscoring talents available at the moment for Liverpool to pursue.
