The Belgian centre-forward Christian Benteke started off the season in an unfortunate manner, missing nine games from August to November with an Achilles tendon rupture and a suspension in the wake of the dismissal against Tottenham.

Additionally, the 24-year-old didn't provide a single goal or assist at all in January or February, at a time when Aston Villa struggled to score goals. However, he's now perceiving himself as too good for the club, wanting out, but he's facing an obstacle in the shape of a contract clause.

As things stand, Villa are not willing to let their front man leave for anything less than the £32.5M release clause inked in the player's contract. Finding somebody to splash such an amount of money would, however, be a tricky task.

Liverpool are the only club who might be wanting to do so, as there have been "no other clubs registering any serious interest", according to The Guardian. But as the Scousers have just splashed £29m on the Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, they might hesitate to bring Benteke in for a fee around the same range.

Currently, the situation is very much dependent on how Villa manager Tim Sherwood copes, being stuck between an eventual transfer of a disillusioned key player. Villa are hoping that the incentive of Benteke representing his native Belgium in the Euros next summer could motivate him to provide some further scintillating months at the club, maybe even a season.

After all, the player capped at both U17, U18, U19 and U21 level for his home country will have to find the absolute peak of his game to make manager Mark Wilmots fit him into a side potentially containing; Eden Hazard, Adnan Januzaj, Dries Mertens, Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku.

If Benteke suffers another dip in form lasting for months, he could even be omitted from the entire squad.

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About the author
Nicolas Berg
Football analyst with a degree in media knowledge.