Aston Villa Striker Battle: Andy Gray vs. Christian Benteke

If you ask fans of any football club to list their greatest players then you can pretty much guarantee that strikers will feature heavily.

Just take Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush at Liverpool, Eric Cantona at Manchester United and Thierry Henry at Arsenal, for example.

Great strikers can help a club retain league status, win leagues and cups and propel their side to the upper echelons of footballing greatness.

Strikers are paid to score goals, and when they do they often go down in their respective club's history. And rightly so.

Andy Gray is no different at Aston Villa. The great Scot is well revered at Villa Park for his endeavour during his two spells with the club and still widely respected, despite having played for West Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Brom.

And although he only has one full season under his belt, Christian Benteke is well on his way to becoming a Villa great.

The two players are of a different ilk, have played in different eras, against different opposition, for different periods of time and, of course, alongside different team-mates, but we will compare the two and summarise who is the better Villa player in terms of overall endeavour, goals-to-game ratio and impact at the club.

Gray was a powerhouse of a forward and would risk everything to get on the end of the ball to score a goal—a bravery that occasionally resulted in injury. Though not the most imposing figure on the pitch, standing at just 5'11”, defenders rarely liked facing the Scot.

Gray first joined Villa from Dundee United in 1975 for a fee of £110,000 and enjoyed the better of his two spells there during a four-year period. Although his debut away to Middlesbrough wasn't one to remember, he certainly made amends by finding the net during his first game at Villa Park against Tottenham.

The claret and blue outfit struggled in the league during Gray's first season but the striker's double-figure haul helped Ron Saunders' Villa retain top-flight status.

The Glasgow-born striker went from strength to strength and enjoyed his best season for Villa throughout the 1976/77 campaign, notching 29 goals as his side finished fourth in the table and won the League Cup. Gray was subsequently voted PFA Footballer of the Year and PFA Young Player of the year.

He moved across the West Midlands to Wolves in 1979, winning the League Cup, before moving to Everton where he helped them claim the FA Cup. Gray was back at Villa in 1985, and although the club was in decline, he still contributed with some vital goals.

In two spells with Villa, Gray found the net 78 times in 210 appearances.

In comparison with Gray, Benteke has only spent a very short time with the club. But in that time the Belgian striker has had an enormous impact.

Following a steady, if not electric, youth career with Standard Liege and Genk, Benteke joined Villa for a fee of around £7 million, as the BBC reported. 

The striker scored on his debut in a 2-0 win over Swansea City and didn't look back. Notching 23 goals in all competitions during his first season in English football—19 in the league and four in cup play—Benteke fell just one goal short of Villa's 22-year league goals record set by Peter Withe in 1980/81.

The Belgian was a revelation during his first season and pretty much single-handedly saved his side from almost certain relegation. Villa would be playing in the Championship if not for his goals.

Before Benteke's move to Villa, in an interview with the BBC, he spoke about his excitement of playing with England international Darren Bent: "I know Darren Bent is a great striker and I want to play with him and work hard for the team."

However, the two players rarely got a chance to play together as Benteke kept his strike partner out of the team. And for good reason.

A youthful Villa side—missing the experienced head of Stiliyan Petrov as the Bulgarian battled acute leukaemia—severely lacked experience across the team and were forced to play on the back foot for most of their 38 league games.

Bent, although a prolific goalscorer, rarely contributed to the team in terms of work rate and defensive endeavour—quite the opposite to Benteke. The Belgian worked tirelessly whenever on the pitch; tracking back when required, holding up the ball in order to bring his team-mates into play and, of course, scoring vital goals, which is why he kept out Villa's £24 million record signing out of the team. 

Benteke has continued in his rich vein of goalscoring form this season, scoring four times in four appearances, and sits joint top of the Premier League goalscorers table.

The verdict

Although Andy Gray was a phenomenal striker and one who will go down as an all-time Villa great, it's hard to look past the talismanic Belgian.

Benteke has taken the Premier League by storm since his move and, following an incredible debut season, has subsequently been linked with a move away from Aston Villa, as Sky Sports' Sam Drury reported. 

However, the Belgian recently signed a new contact that will keep him at Villa Park until 2017, and with a goal ratio of one in every 1.5 games, a faultless work rate and a hunger to become one of the Premier League's top strikers, I'd choose Benteke over Gray every time.