WhoScored's Throwback Thursday: When Christian Benteke was the Premier League’s next big thing

Just when they’ve needed a goalscorer most, Roy Hodgson has left Christian Benteke out of his Crystal Palace line-ups. The man signed to fire the club to Premier League safety last season has endured a bitterly disappointing campaign this time around, and it’s been a dramatic fall from grace from a player that was at one stage among the hottest young strikers going. 

When Aston Villa secured the services of a 21-year-old that was very much an unknown entity to the masses, very few heads were turned but after an understandably settling in period, Benteke quickly became a household name. It was in a 3-1 win at Anfield that the Belgian’s potential really became clear, bullying the Liverpool backline to finish the game with two goals and an assist. 

However, it wasn’t until the turn of the year that the youngster would really come to the fore and announce himself as one of the top prospects in Europe. His goals would fire Villa to safety and put the forward in the shop window after an exceptional second half to the 2012/13 season.

Indeed, Benteke scored 14 goals in 17 league appearances following the turn of the year that season, which was at least two more than any other player in England’s top-flight. It was a tally on a par with Robert Lewandowski over the same time, and more than the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez - hailed by many as the best number nines over the last five years. 

The Belgian international started the following campaign where he left off the last with goals against Arsenal and Chelsea but injuries began to play a part in his career at a very young age. During a barren spell after returning from a groin problem in October up until the start of the New Year it became clear that Benteke was a confidence striker to the extreme and while he was back among the goals thereafter, disaster struck when the forward suffered a rupture of his achilles tendon in training that would rule him out of a World Cup in which he looked likely to lead the line for Marc Wilmots side. 

Never having fully recovered from what was an incredibly damaging injury to a player that relies so heavily on his power, not least in the air, Benteke will miss out on the grand stage once again this year. This time around it’s down to the absence of the confidence that had once marked him out as a superstar in the making, with no conviction whatsoever in his finishing and in desperate need of a fresh start.  

In 28 league appearances, the 27-year-old has scored just twice this season, having bagged 19 six seasons ago to emerge as one of the most feared front men in the Premier League. Benteke’s demise has been drastic, there’s no denying that. Whether or not he can return to anything close to his outstanding best of five years ago is unclear.