Chelsea Transfer Rumors: Christian Benteke Would Be an Upgrade over Demba Ba

After Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke reportedly asked for a transfer, there are now rumors that Chelsea is interested in the 22-year-old Belgian.

Stuart James of the Guardian reported Benteke's transfer request on Monday. 

ESPNFC.com followed with this later in the day:

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We're hearing that Chelsea are among the teams in the mix for Benteke, who reportedly has a £25 million price tag on his head. That would surely spell the end of Demba Ba at Stamford Bridge... 

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Indeed it would. As it should.

Benteke posted 19 goals and four assists in 34 matches (32 starts) last season for Aston Villa. His 19 tallies ranked fourth in the Premier League. WhoScored.com gave him a respectable rating of 7.45, ranked in the top 50 among all eligible players in the EPL, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga. He scored or created 49 percent of Villa's goals, according to the Guardian report.

As for Demba Ba, the 28-year-old posted a combined 15 goals in 34 games (30 starts) for Newcastle United and Chelsea. He registered a rating of 7.11 in his 20 games with Newcastle United, ranked 265th among eligible players in the five leagues.

Of course, James noted in his report that Chelsea could have some heavy competition for Benteke's services in the form of Tottenham Hotspur. 

Both Chelsea and Spurs have missed out on some high-profile names this summer. Chelsea wasn't able to nab Edinson Cavani from Napoli, while Spurs weren't able to convince Valencia to part with Roberto Soldado.

And Benteke's price tag is naturally high. According to James, Villa is asking for more than £25 million for the youngster (although that figure could go down this summer).

At this point, it's too early to project where Benteke will end up, but the fact that Chelsea stepped up its efforts on Monday could make for an interesting run for the Belgian's services.

While Benteke is obviously an expensive player right now, he is very young and is only going to get better. It wouldn't be a bad deal for the Blues.