Aston Villa Striker Christian Benteke Professes His Love for Arsenal

Aston Villa brought in striker Christian Benteke from Genk over the summer transfer window for the modest transfer fee of £7 million (per The Daily Mail).

The Belgian international is considered an up-and-coming striker in world football and a good pickup for Villa, who were in need of some fresh attacking options this year.

Through his opening six games at the club, Benteke has been worth every cent that was spent on him—leading the team in both goals and assists while boasting the second-highest match rating out of all Villa players this season, according to Who Scored.

The Villa-Benteke relationship was seemingly going so well until earlier this week, when the striker told the media which Premier League club he wanted to play for.

Per The Sun:

"

Arsenal are the club I love.

I like their philosophy of selecting young players and, besides, they had Thierry Henry. For me, he is the best player in the world and was my boyhood idol.

I'm not afraid of making enemies at Villa by saying I love Arsenal.

One can say worse things.

"

Worse things?

You might be asking, what worse things could he possibly say?

What could be worse than inferring that his current club is merely nothing more than a stepping stone in his career—something that he just "has to do" in order to make his way to a proper club, which is where his love and attention are currently at?

Oh, it gets worse.

"

I'm a Villa player for now.

When I joined Villa, I didn't know where they played. I thought they were a London club [like Arsenal]!

"

That would be Villa's star signing Christian Benteke. Or should we say, future Arsenal signing Christian Benteke—which would we prefer?

I have no doubts that Villa know they are not the greatest club in the Premier League, and when it comes to a player with the class and potential of Benteke, they know they won't be able to hang on to him forever.

But for him to openly come out and say that the club are merely a stepping stone and he might not have joined them if he didn't know they weren't close to Arsenal? It's really not a good look for the club, who have already had problems with their strikers and club morale this year.

Maybe, just maybe, their players should concentrate less on where their playing futures are going and more on getting a result week in and week out.

Because getting whooped 5-0 by Manchester City isn't a good look at all—especially when, in Benteke's eyes, all he saw was a 5-2 win for Arsenal.

It's okay—he'll turn it around with a strong performance next week.

After all, Villa are playing Arsenal.   

What do you make of Christian Benteke's comments about Arsenal?

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