Christian Benteke admits he would leave Aston Villa if a big team came calling

Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke has cast doubt over his long-term future at the club by hinting at a possible exit if offers come in for him.

The Belgian striker was quoted by the Sun saying the following:

"“If Aston Villa say I must stay, I won’t necessarily accept that. I do not in any way want to feel I didn’t get the most out of my career. I try to get everything.Of course playing the World Cup in Rio is in my head. But I have no fear of falling out of the team. There is no point in me getting into a tug-of-war with Villa.If the chance comes up for me to join a club like Arsenal, I’m convinced we can reach a compromise where everyone comes out a winner.” – Christian Benteke on a possible transfer away from Aston Villa."

The last line of that quote will be of most interest to Arsenal fans. He has hinted at a move to Arsenal in the past, even before now. Benteke had a very impressive first year in the Premier League and is probably one of the biggest reasons that Aston Villa stayed in the Premier League. Benteke’s 19 goals in the Premier League were extremely good for a player in his first season in England. Add to that four more goals in the Capital One Cup and 23 goals in one season certainly isn’t bad going.

Villa certainly won’t want to let their star player go after one season, but he does seem keen on Arsenal. I personally would like to see how he does in his second year in England to see if he can keep up that level of consistency. He certainly had a very good first season. The only trouble with that would be it would drive his price tag up higher.

Arsenal are reportedly in the market for a striker this summer, with Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney being linked to the club in recent weeks. Benteke certainly wouldn’t be a bad buy and if Arsenal signed him I would be happy. One thing that does seem certain is that it’ll be an interesting summer full of transfer speculation as always. Hopefully Arsenal invest well after qualifying for the Champions League yet again and seemingly in a good financial state compared to recent years.

Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke has seemingly opened up the door to a move to Arsenal.