According to a report from Het Belang van Limburg (via Sport Witness), Aston Villa are interested in bringing former player Christian Benteke back to the club on loan in the January transfer window.
But if they were to go ahead with the deal, there would be a clear winner and a clear loser at Villa Park…
Red Herring or Real Hero: Only hardcore Villa fans will get all of them right….
Winner: Jack Grealish
Grealish has been Aston Villa’s main man in the ongoing 2019/20 campaign, already scoring nine goals and assisting six more across all competitions. The attacking midfielder is even their top goalscorer in the Premier League with seven.
But with Benteke’s possible arrival, Grealish’s figures just might go even higher up. Even though he hasn’t scored in the Premier League since April, the 29-year-old is still a big presence up front with one key pass every 61 minutes and 4.4 aerial duels won per game in top flight.
Needless to say, Grealish could combine with Benteke very well, using late runs from midfield to latch onto knockdowns, and the two forming a good relationship could be huge for Aston Villa. That in turn would enhance Grealish’s England hopes as well as Gareth Southgate draws up his Euro 2020 squad.
Loser: Wesley Moraes
This is a rather straightforward one – Benteke’s arrival could very much be bad news for Wesley, who arrived from Club Brugge last summer for a club-record fee.
With just six goals and one assist in his first 21 games for the Villans, it’s safe to say that the 23-year-old hasn’t really covered himself in glory so far, and a season-ending injury won’t help his cause much either – especially if Benteke is brought in to fill his void.
Benteke could quite easily spend the rest of the season leading Villa’s line and further highlighting Wesley’s shortcomings, even more so if he rediscovers his scoring touch at Villa Park. But perhaps the worst-case scenario is Benteke doing enough to make his return permanent in the summer, subsequently shoving Wesley down the pecking order.
Essentially, Wesley will be handing over his car keys for the rest of the season, leaving Benteke to prove he’s the better driver.
