Recently I’ve been reading an article and peoples opinions on why Benteke decided to stay at Aston Villa, and it appears as though it’s believed that Benteke didn’t want to become a flop at his next big club. Yes, we’ve seen many players move away from Aston Villa and become a flop for the new team. Stewart Downing, James Milner, Ashley Young, James Collins, Luke Young, Cuellar, John Carew, Re0-Coker have all left Villa, either forcing a transfer or just being sold and haven’t really impressed or matched the same level of performance as they have at Aston Villa. Would have Benteke just followed that route?
Yes and no, Benteke is young and that’s the key here. He can still develop at any club really, but what Paul Lambert and Aston Villa offer is something different. At a top club the team isn’t built around a player, it’s built around a style of the manager. Here, it’s a bit different. Lambert’s philosophy works best with a big target man, it worked at Norwich with Holt and it’s certainly working with Aston Villa and Benteke. Lambert is making sure he get’s the service, Benteke bullies defenders, makes room for other players and certainly makes sure that all the players work together.
Back to the curse, why have many former Aston Villa players struggled? I’ve got one theory, Aston Villa is a family club, it is, you hear it very often from many players at the club. It’s a good atmosphere and what Lambert is doing is adding on to that. Okore and Helenius have already spoken at the pleasure of being here and how open it is. I can imagine at other clubs it isn’t all like that, especially at the top clubs where you have some players earning fortunes, and others not. It could also be the transfer fee, or the pressure to replicate the perform last seen.
But the curse can also work backwards, Ireland and N’Zogbia have never really settled or replicated their previous form.
I think Benteke would’ve struggled if he moved this season, I think he’ll have another great season and I certainly believe that the will be playing in the World Cup. And that ‘curse’ could be a reason for him staying.
