Christian Benteke

[Tee]

Crazy.

We buy **** loads of players every summer

Hope next summer we buy two.

Does my head in it really does. As far as I am concerned it's a brand new project now next year for BR.

Oh, welcome to Liverpool, YNWA Benteke!

[baitman]

his thumbs are ****ing enormous.

[BobTheCharmer]

Crazy.

We buy **** loads of players every summer

Hope next summer we buy two.

Two hundred right? It's more exciting than the ****ing league itself

[EwarWoo]

The casual lean back on that thumbs up fills me with hope for his future, he's got class this lad.

[Fosterbloke]

https://twitter.com/hashtag/BigChrisLFC

[vonk]

Some of the negativity on this thread is astounding. Plenty of half-arsed "I think he's ****, but hope he proves me wrong" fence-sitting ****e. This is the kind of "support" Benteke can look forward to -

"Would be great if Utd sign him. He will improve them no doubt, but if he signs for us it's Carroll all over again. We need a striker with pace, a good pressing game, and someone who can contribute more in the style of build up play that we will see, rather than knockdowns all the way from Mignolet, Skrtel, and Sakhos boots."

[Assassin]

Good stuff. I'm on his side now. Just waiting to be proved wrong. Imagine...if he punches his weight and we make it work for him here......could be ****ing great. Even though I've not wanted him he's the right age, he's quick, strong as ****, good in the air and scores goals. Those things can't be argued with. Good luck Big Chris

Great signing....This fella will be everything that Heskey should have been

[cream]

It's a bit **** comparing him to Carroll, hes not a ****house and a pisshead waster for a start...

[Pablo]

Big Chris did a spot of painting at home before coming to sign

He looks leaner and more athletic than I thought. Always imagined him to be a bit bulkier

I think he'll be a good signing. He's no Torres or Suarez at their peaks, but who is! I honestly can't think of anyone else we realistically could have got who's better. I'm pretty convinced he'll score a lot of goals for us.

We might need to adjust our style slightly but not as much as some others are suggesting.

Fingers crossed he gets off to a flyer against Stoke!

[McDermotX]

[danperkins]

Some of the negativity on this thread is astounding. Plenty of half-arsed "I think he's ****, but hope he proves me wrong" fence-sitting ****e. This is the kind of "support" Benteke can look forward to -

"Would be great if Utd sign him. He will improve them no doubt, but if he signs for us it's Carroll all over again. We need a striker with pace, a good pressing game, and someone who can contribute more in the style of build up play that we will see, rather than knockdowns all the way from Mignolet, Skrtel, and Sakhos boots."

yeah there has been a bit of stick alright. Each to their own though, I think he'll be a great signing. Don't think i've ever seen LFC fans so unenthused buy a big money signing. But i'm sure those fans will give him 100% support and hope that he succeeds.

The expectation is different here to Villa & some players can buckle. Personally I think he'll get more chances and opportunities in front of goal... than he's ever got in his career.

Hopefully he can prove alot of people wrong. I do think the comparison's to Carroll and trying to make out that he's just a big lump target... are very harsh & wrong.

[Darkon]

Welcome to him, really looking forward to seeing him in action. I reckon he will get us ~15 goals, and I think we will start changing our play a bit now with Sterling gone and better linkage players being here now.

I think he can do well. Had hoped we would go for a quicker striker, but that's really only on the notion that I expect us keep playing similarly to what we did. I think we are in for a surprise tbh., and I think Benteke can do well.

I know it wasn't my first choice in strikers and especially at that price, but still that's the market today I guess. To many clubs have enough money to just shrug the shoulders. He can do well, especially if we've changed our win condition, and I firmly believe we have.

[marcus50bucks]

Christian Benteke doesn't excite Liverpool fans like Roberto Firmino even though 95 per cent have never seen him play, but I worry Belgian won't be suited to Reds style

• Liverpool confirmed signing of Christian Benteke for £32.5m on Wednesday
• Reds added Brazil international Roberto Firmino to their squad for £29m
• Most Liverpool fans won't have seen Firmino play - YouTube doesn't count
• But supporters are more excited by him than proven striker Benteke
• Benteke has torn teams apart but we have also seen his touch go awry
• I worry that he might not fit in with Brendan Rodgers' style of play

By JAMIE CARRAGHER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 22:30, 22 July 2015 | UPDATED: 02:12, 23 July 2015

They are the men Brendan Rodgers believes will transform Liverpool’s goal return; two massive signings whose fortunes will define the new season.

The different reactions to the arrivals of Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke, however, could not be more stark.

Though 95 per cent of Liverpool supporters have never seen Firmino in action — YouTube doesn’t count — they believe he is already on his way to becoming an icon.

He comes from Brazil, his style is similar to Luis Suarez’s and his form for Hoffenheim was brilliant, leaving fans saying: ‘Imagine what he’ll be like for us!’

That is the mystique of buying players from abroad. Firmino could well be another Suarez; he could also be another Alberto Aquilani.

Contrast that to Benteke, who has become the second-biggest signing in Liverpool’s history after scoring 42 goals in 89 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa, a team that has fought for survival in each of the three years he was there.

Only Sergio Aguero (55), Suarez (53) and Robin van Persie (44) have scored more in the top flight since he marked his debut with a goal against Swansea in September 2012.

Can you imagine what Liverpool fans would be saying about Firmino if the 32 goals he has scored in all competitions over the past two years for Hoffenheim — whose finishing positions were ninth and eighth — had come during a fight against the drop?

You can see what I am getting at. It has always fascinated me to see the reaction to those who are brought in from foreign leagues compared to when there is a transfer between Premier League clubs. There are no secrets about players in England. We know all there is to know.

So while we’ve been impressed by how Benteke has torn teams apart — Liverpool, against whom he scored five goals in six games, have really suffered — we also know when his touch has been poor and his lack of interest has been apparent. He can be devastating and infuriating in equal measure.

The hope at Liverpool is that surrounding him with better players will see him become even more devastating and consistent. I like him as a striker and actually think he would be great for Chelsea. Jose Mourinho likes that profile of forward and sets his teams up to get the best out of them.

My worry at Liverpool is, will he be suited to the short, sharp and incisive passing game that Rodgers favours? Brendan wants his side to play through teams, rather than getting the ball into him from wide areas, a fact Tim Sherwood pointed out as soon as Liverpool’s interest became public.

Parallels have already been drawn with Andy Carroll and people have pointed out that Rodgers wasted no time in getting rid of him but that decision had nothing to do with the fact that Carroll was a big man. It was purely down to him lacking pace and movement.

Those are qualities Benteke does not lack but his biggest problem at the moment, where a lot of Liverpool fans are concerned, is that they know him. He would have liked the welcome that Firmino has received, but in a few months a warm reception will count for nothing.

All that will matter is how many goals they have managed to score. That alone will determine how popular they become.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...eds-style.html

[Slinky Skills]

[Maxiedge]

I was in the 'no' camp because I think when you've got £30m+ to spend, it's a ****load of money, even in today's market. Did we trawl through every possibility in the European market? No, I don't believe we did. Benteke seemed to be first choice right from the start.

Saying all that, I'm happy with the signing mostly because he will be a massive presence to beef up our rather meek team from last season. That in itself is gold.