It seems that one man who won’t be ‘doing a Sterling’ this summer is Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke.
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The powerful forward, who has been regularly linked with a move to Liverpool, has reported for his current club’s pre-season tour of Portugal and looks set to depart with the rest of the squad – as the Daily Mirror report.
His actions come in complete contrast to those of current Reds star Raheem Sterling, who has refused to travel to the Far East as he holds out for his long-awaited move to Manchester City (via Daily Mail).
Benteke has clearly learned from his mistakes. Two seasons ago he lodged an official request to be sold to Tottenham in what was a very public affair, only for the move to fall through when Spurs failed to meet the asking price.
The 24-year-old has kept his mouth firmly shut this time around, despite rumours such as this from the Metro claiming that the player is desperate to move to Anfield during the current transfer window.
According to the Mirror, Benteke’s attitude has been ‘fine’ in the build-up to the trip and it doesn’t seem that he’s aired any qualms about Villa refusing to budge on his £32.5m buyout clause, a fee that we’ve so far been unwilling to meet.
The player, who has scored 49 goals in three years at Villa and guided them to safety last season with an impressive run of form under new manager Tim Sherwood, is clearly grateful to the club for how they’ve treated him and he’s willing to go about things the right way in order to get his move.
Perhaps young Raheem could learn a thing or two here…