Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Mike Field 
Date:Friday August 31 2012
Time: 10:27PM
UK time is: 12:11:10
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Benteke Too Signs Four Year Deal - Updated
Christian Benteke has also tonight put pen to paper on a four year deal at Villa.
The fee is believed to be in the region of £6.5 to £7m.
Official Site confirmation is expected soon, following the club tweeting the news.
Will update.
Here we go folks, from the Official Site.
Benteke has said he has taken inspiration from fellow Belgian internationals Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen and Eden Hazard, as well as Paul Lambert (who clearly isn't a Belgian international!) when deciding to complete his move to B6.
The 21 year old becomes our 8th proper signing (9th including the re-signing of Brad Guzan) of the window, and he does come with an interesting eye for goal as people will know now.
"It was motivation for me when I went to join up with the national team and saw all the players from the Premier League, it made me want to play here. But the manager also convinced me this was the perfect move. Aston Villa are a very historic football club and my colleagues on international duty have said good things about the football here in England. I am looking forward to getting my career started. I am a striker and can play with my back to goal, I can also play behind the striker and I am good in the air. Darren Bent is a great striker and I want to play with him and work hard for the team."
Lambert added.
"Christian is only 21 years of age but already he's an established Belgian international and he's had a terrific time at Genk. He's something very different to what we have here and that added dimension will enhance the club. A young man he may be, but he's definitely a handful. We're stronger now as a unit and we're trying to build step by step. This is an important step and I believe in the players I have here."
Benteke Forum Thread.
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Your Comments
Fantastic, Better late than never, cheers Mr Lerner for backing our manager once again.
villa 4 ever
What's that, eight signings this summer? That's pretty impressive. Glad I got up at 4am to see this one come through. Way to go PL and RL!
Lee282
well said villa 4 ever, Lerner has never failed to back a manager and deserves more credit than he gets.
AVbornandbred
9 technically with the resigning of Guzan. Roughly £20m spent by my head.
mike_field
Happy with a forward of his strike rate. Westwood looks a great prospect too. And Bennett for left field cover, awesome!!!
Charizma
Nathan Delfouneso gone on loan to blackpool as well good business...
daveyboyr
Great stuff. Never heard of one these players before we were linked to them, but really looks like the plan is building for the future. As for the present, a bit more experience would have been nice but let's see how we get on from now until January.
Stephen Jay Hawkings
Good news. We've saved 20 mil on wages by getting rid of all the established but past it/overrated players anyway. Hutton and or Warnock out somewhere would cap the night off.
Villan444
444 you ill, I've never seen you this positive PMSL
mike_field
9. That's even better then :-D
Lee282
Great news , very happy with our dealings this window. gonna take time tho... so no immediate fireworks expected from me. I do love we have got cheapies and a few internationals, love the mix all for next to feck all. happy bunny right now!!!
jaspervilla
God I hope Benteke does the business for us. Please Paul McGrath make it so. Was hoping we would go for palacios but he's on his way to fulham. But that's me being greedy.
Lock
A couple of vids on you tube showing Benteke scoring goals by being brave and getting on the end of 50-50's. How long has it been since we saw that?
Madirish
My cup runneth over. Glad the window is shut, hopefully we can get on with the season now and who knows, actually have a few shots every now and then? Bring it on, great to see villa can now compete for tenth place.
The Fear
We were always going to this season though mate, such was the rebuilding job.
mike_field
Agree we need Hutton and Warnock gone in this window but very happy with the moves PL has made and it's nice to see RL back him. Very excited about Benteke can't wait to see him in action.
AdzVilla11
Interesting to see the deapration teams like QPR and Fulham and Spurs and the rest are showing by trying to sign the sam old same old expensive rubbish. PL has done fine. Stick 10mill away for next time, and do the same next time etc, so when the time comes we have a 100 mill to reach the next level.
RiF
Not that I want to tempt fate here, but the thing I really like about this is the lads confidence. "I'm good at this, I'm good at that, I can do this," obviously has faith in his ability. And at the same time, no one had heard of Pa***** Cisse when he signed for Newcastle...
Francobaresi13
Really pleased with the signings PL has made. We've wasted millions on "proven" premiership players and hardly any of them lived up to their price tag. This is definitely the way forward, picking players from the lower leagues who are keen and eager to prove their worth and really earn their wages such as Westwood, Bennett and Lowton is refreshing and if other clubs followed suit and gave English players the opportunity to play in the top league we might even end up with a decent national team. Randy deserves a massive thank you for the support he has given PL and as long as the more fickle of our fans give these players the chance to develop without jumping on their backs at the first mistake then I think we are really going to see a long term plan come to fruition over the next few years - and not like MON's 5 year plan which seemed to be based purely on wasting obscene amounts of money on players who he then failed to pick - but instead a sustainable plan where we can build and develop a mix of home grown and brought in players who don't purely see Villa as their next big pay day.
villatillidie
Lol. Sorry Mike. Someone hacked my username. Lol. I've bought into PL as I think that he knows what he wants to do and it's a chess game where he has the players for his moves in the right places. His mamma didn't raise no fool....
Villan444
Oh and well done to PL for pretty much telling Dempsey to go ***** himself when he said he'd prefer to go to Liverpool and good luck to Spurs for signing a player who clearly just wanted out from Fulham and had no other option.
We have got ourselves a classy manager and supportive chairman and the sooner a lot of fans start to appreciate this the better!
villatillidie
I think we really can turn the corner this season but we do still need a couple of good results for team confidence. Some of the new signings will be expected to hit the ground running and that isn't as easy playing in the toughest league going. I'm defo more happy though with the additions and thank you Randolph for your continued belief and PL for your foresight. Let's keep it tight now for a couple of games and start to kick on. UTV.
holte ender 1969
Cool 444, that explains it then dude. Was worried about you for a minute then lol As for the rest, agree completely. It's not going to be pretty this year, but it needed doing.
mike_field
Only time will tell if this is the right way forward. I have always had faith in PL and still do, though I'm a little cautious with all these lads with no Premiership experience. It'll be a bit of a struggle I believe, but together this group of young players could, just could surprise a few people..... me included (hopefully).
Pride of Lions
Forgot to say, Great news we managed to get Benteke. Bit of a mouthful for commentators - Bent and Benteke....Lol
Pride of Lions
I guess we could call our strike force "B2" ? No ? I'll get my coat..
ExpatVillaShirt
I have just registered to thank you all for once being so positive! We really do need to show patience this season and staying up is priority. But PL's philosophy is refreshing and unique to the Prem and the future really does look positive. Let's get rid of the boo boys and show some sustained support and get rid of our "fickle fans" tag?!
Roncrete Destroyer
I might regret it later but I am allowing myself to get excited about this one. Impressive numbers for Genk, Already a full international and scorer, at only 21. 6ft 5in. A cross between Bent and Carew, perhaps? Belgian pedigree. Comes from the Congo. Does he drink Um-Bongo?
Steve Wade
I love the signing of Benteke, at last we try and mine Europe for talent. Let's be realistic, at the moment Villa have to build and try to steadily climb up the league year by year. As much as we hate this phrase, clubs have to be run like businesses now in order to progress. Look at the vitriol aimed at Mike Ashley a couple of years back, even up to the sacking of Hughton, when it looked like all he wanted to do was asset strip the club. Now, Newcastle had no need to sell any of the fine squad that they have built because of the Carroll deal and the increased revenue after last season. A plan was made and executed even through protests against the regime. Villa can follow this model. While a lot of other teams panic buy, making scatter gun signings to placate fans it looks like Villa have an idea of the type of club they want to be and I think its definitely a step in the right direction. In today's football landscape a club the size of Villa (and I mean this purely in the here and now without taking into account the rich history of the club) needs to have total belief in the philosophy that they have chosen and stick to it. Buy young, develop, and then maybe sell on at a profit if its for the long term good of the club or keep if the financial circumstances dictate that this is the best option. Long term is the only way to view today's footballing landscape because the clubs that are run only looking at one or two years will eventually get caught out. Let's see where QPR are in three years.
wizard21
Anybody fancy seeing Reo Coker back in the midfield to help out the young players? Well done to PL and RL for some really good business in the market. Lets hear the Lions roar!!!!
jfr7730
I genuinely hope this isn't the case, given the recent and ongoing trauma on the south coast, but do current QPR dealings remind anyone else of a few seasons ago at Pompey? I'm very glad we are not spending silly money like some. The words 'un' and 'sustainable' spring to mind ...
BobTheBuilder
BobTheBuilder - that's what I was getting at. I wouldn't be surprised if 'Arry is the manager once Hughes gets sacked in January. There needs to be some regulation bought in to stop this kind of ownership model.
wizard21
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