Christian Benteke is a professional footballer. It has a Congolese origin. However, he is a member of the Belgian national team. Over the course of a career, he has changed many clubs and championships. Most firmly entrenched in the English championship.
Start a professional career
Christian Benteke, whose photo is presented in the material, was born on December 3, 1990 in the city of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). In connection with the military coup in the state in the mid-90s, the family of the future footballer was forced to flee from political persecution to Belgium.
Christian Benteke is a football player who began to think about playing sports at a serious level even at the age of 6. The real home for the player was the Pierrez Club Academy in Liege. The guy was in the team until 2004, until he attracted the attention of the Standard scouts, who held leading positions in the highest Belgian league. The footballer defended the colors of the club for 2 seasons. However, he was trusted with a place only in the youth composition.
At the beginning of the 2006 season, Benteke’s transfer to Genk took place. A professional contract between Christian and the club management was signed in 2007. Over the course of several seasons, the team’s rookie managed to enter the field 10 times in the main squad and score one goal.
Fairly mediocre results did not allow the young footballer to gain a foothold in Genk. Therefore, in the 2009/2010 season, Christian Benteke returned to his first professional club - Standard. Soon, the football player, together with teammates, won the title of champion of the country. During the season, the striker appeared in the main team 11 times and scored 3 goals.
This was followed by the lease of a football player in Kortrijk and Mechelen, after which he again ended up in the Genk club. Pretty soon, the young football player firmly established himself in the position of the main striker of the team. According to the results of the 2011/2012 season, Christian Benteke was recognized as the best player by the fans of the team. Statistics of a talented football player only confirmed this honorary title. So, during the one-year performance for Genk, the player took part in 33 matches, in which he chalked up 16 goals. The achievement allowed Christian to add his own surname to the list of the top scorers of the Belgian championship and attract the attention of the scouts that represented the clubs from the leading championships.
Performances in England
High performance during the game for Genk soon allowed Christian Benteke to move to Misty Albion. In 2012, the player signed a contract with the English Aston Villa.
The football player spent his debut season in the new championship above all praise. In 39 matches for the new club, Benteke hit the opponents' gate 23 times. The indicated indicator did not submit to any other forward of the team. However, the high performance of the player did not allow Aston Villa to significantly advance in the standings. According to the results of the 2012/2013 season, the team took only 15th position in the Premier League.
In 2015, the striker signed a contract with Liverpool. The agreement was designed for 5 years. However, at the end of the first season for Benteke in the team, the former coach Brendan Rogers was forced to leave the team , who invariably trusted the player with a place in the first team. The new coach Jürgen Klopp was unable to find a common language with the striker. Therefore, Christian was soon forced to look for a new job to continue his career as a football player.
National team games
Benteke began playing for the youth national team at the international level at the age of 17. Until 2012, Christian was the main striker in various teams of the youth teams of Belgium.
For the main team of the country, the striker made his debut on May 19, 2010, when the coaching staff released him to replace him in a friendly match against Bulgaria. Christian Benteke marked the first goal scored in the adult national team on August 15, 2012, hitting the gates of the Dutch national team.
Career continuation
This summer there were a lot of rumors about the proposed place to continue the career of Christian Benteke. The difficulty with finding a new club for the player was Liverpool’s reluctance to sell it cheaply. Eventually, the Crystal Palace club managed to sign the forward. According to official information, the leadership of the team from London had to pay a record 27 million pounds for a football player.