Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has heaped the praise on striker Christian Benteke after the Belgian international scored two goals in the 4-1 win over Norwich during the weekend. The striker was subjected to much transfer interest in the summer after he scored a spectacular 23 goals in his debut season with the club last season. However, he rejected the opportunity to move to clubs like Chelsea and Tottenham and decided to stay with Villa. He even signed a new five-year contract, which was rumoured to double his wages.
Benteke began the season in extraordinary fashion after scoring five goals in as many games. However, he suffered a hip injury just a few months into the new campaign. Since then, his form nosedived and he went without finding the back of the net for 12 matches. Now, though, he seems to be finding his form once again and the Norwich match showed the best of the striker. He scored two goals in the space of just three minutes to setup this impressive win.
After the match, Lambert praised Benteke to http://www.ftbllr.net by saying that the striker could become a world-class player if he manages to reproduce the form from last season. Tottenham were rumoured to be ready to pay around £ 25 million for the striker, who was signed for just £ 7 million from Genk in the summer of 2012.
“I think if he does over the second half of this season what he did last season then we’re talking about having an absolute world-class player on our hands. This season was always going to be hard for him. He’s only been in Britain for a year and a half, and I think people forget that, and they forget his age as well. He’s got the ability to be a top, top player,” said Lambert.