Benteke murks Spurs

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Benteke signs for Villa.

I think the clue was in the laughable threat 'I need to sign for Tottenham by Thursday'. That and the smile he gave when Spurs were mentioned in that video footage doing the rounds.

That threat, which was attributed to Christian Benteke but was probably a carefully placed inception, via agent, into the public domain to drive Aston Villa to offer the player the new and improved contract he wanted. For all the blog articles, reports and suggestions that Benteke to Spurs was progressed and almost done appears to have been nothing more than words and rumours. Say it enough times out loud and it becomes a truth, or at least an expectation of likely probability.

Perhaps we did show interest. Perhaps there were talks. Perhaps Benteke and agent played both sides for their own personal gain, using Spurs in the process. But probably not. 

Once again, nothing you read or hear means a single thing until the club announce it. Should we worry? No, probably not. Why should we not worry? Did we not sign Vertonghen, Sigurdsson and Lloris last summer? Have we not signed Paulinho this season? Have we not followed through on other signings like Holtby? Surely we don't have some ilk of curse/mental block on purchasing a forward? Then again, we did purchase a striker a couple of season back. Adebayor. But his second season spell was erratic and therefore he is now null and void, with most Spurs fans hoping those other rumours are true and that he's on his way out. I doubt people would complain if he performed like he did for us in his first season. But for some, that is a hefty risk to wait and see play out.

The crux of the problem (the problem being our impatience) is birthed from a recent history of 'lack of depth' upfront, as displayed last season. But with Gareth Bale's emergence as a second forward and our continued push towards a robust 433 (always playing one out and out striker in the formation) then a single signing will do to elevate our quality levels. It just won't be Benteke. So if Spurs are seeking to sell either one of Defoe or Adebayor or looking to strengthen our line-up by one - we have to simply wait. Can't do much else. Can't complain about something that hasn't happened before it's not happened. Is this summer embracing an ominous feel? Yes, I guess so, only because pre-season has started and nothing (aside from Paulinho) has happened yet.

Personally, the more I think about it, the more likely that we do in fact only need two forwards. One in and one out is worth a bet. Nothing to change is evens. 

Onwards; Franco, Daniel and Andre.

As for the meltdown that followed on from the news that Benteke was staying at Villa Park? Not forgetting our second successive draw in pre-season preparations along with AVB not 'distancing himself' enough from the Barcelona story can only equate to standard knee-jerk position in 3...2...1...