Even with all the big signings completed by Everton so far, this summer, the Merseyside club are yet to make the most important signing of the season- a replacement for Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian’s potential departure from the Goodison Park was hanging like a sword over Ronald Koeman and one might feel all the signings so far was a build up for this.
Though Lukaku left Goodison Park for something in the region of £75 million, the Toffees are hardly expected to bring in someone with a similar price tag. Koeman has enough attacking firepower to blast open any defence and would need just a good finisher to give the desired outcome to all the brilliant movements in the attacking third.
And it seems like they have already found a like for like replacement for the departed Belgian in his compatriot Christian Benteke. The 26-year-old had an underwhelming season for London side Crystal Palace last term, who just about escaped from the relegation zone, but his quality in front of the goal is undeniable.
Though Everton now have the likes of Wayne Rooney and Sandro Ramirez to take up the centre-forward position, it is Benteke who could reprise it most perfectly. The striker possesses the same strength and eye for goal at the top and is a brilliant winner of aerial duels. Ramirez is expected to be more in the wide areas given his swift movements, speed on and off the ball and bag of tricks while Rooney could continue his playmaking role at Goodison Park.
And it would be Benteke through whom they operate. The Kinshasa-born forward has pretty much been a veteran in English football now playing over 150 games in English top-flight football since arriving from KRC Genk in 2012.
He has played for some of the biggest clubs in England like Aston Villa and Liverpool before Crystal Palace had to shell out a mammoth £27 million for him last summer. He did quite well for the Eagles last season scoring 15 goals and assisting twice in 36 games amidst a season of controversies and managerial changes.
In his 154 games that he played in the Premier League so far, Benteke has scored 66 goals and assisted 13 times. Even for the national side, where he debuted back in 2010, he has 12 goals in 33 caps. In Benteke, Everton would get someone who could be directly thrown into the first team and he would waste no time converting chances.
