Striker unhappy with how little he has been deployed by Liverpool manager
• Claims he can be success at club as they do not ‘play in Barcelona style’
Christian Benteke appears to have accelerated his likely departure from Liverpool this summer by questioning why Jürgen Klopp “ignores” him.
The Belgium forward has scored just eight goals in 35 appearances since joining Liverpool from Aston Villa for £32.5m in July and has rarely featured under Klopp, who replaced Brendan Rodgers as manager in October. Benteke has made just five starts in 16 matches since the end of December and scored just two goals in that time, with one of them being a penalty.
The general consensus is that Benteke does not suit Klopp’s high-energy, high-pressing style of play and the pair’s relationship appeared to hit a particularly rough patch following Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat at Southampton on Sunday when manager was seeing having heated words with player on the St Mary’s pitch. Speaking on Match of the Day that evening, Alan Shearer described it as a “telling off”.
Klopp has played down the incident and said previously that Benteke is part of his long-term plans, but the 25-year-old clearly does not share that view if his interview with Belgium’s Sport/Voetbalmagazine is anything to go by. “Some team-mates have said that I was lucky with the arrival of Klopp, because I certainly would play,” Benteke is reported to have said. “When your coach says he wanted to take you to [Borussia] Dortmund and a little later you sit at the same club and he ignores you it is hard to understand.
“I was obviously happy [moving to Liverpool], I joined a great club. I knew I could face difficult months but in the long run, it would work. At the beginning of season and although I have not scored enough, I showed people that I could play, combine, I was confident for the future.
“I am the first to say that I have not shown enough my worth for club like Liverpool but on the other hand, when I arrived under Brendan Rodgers, I knew I would have the opportunity to show my qualities, I was worth all that money, I deserved to wear the Liverpool shirt. But now ... I knew that the new coach might have a different opinion on me. And that’s what happened”
Addressing the argument that a player with his attributes simply does not suit the manner in which Klopp wants Liverpool to play, Benteke said: “I find it bizarre, I do not understand why people say that. I can play pressing and moving a lot. It is not that we play in the Barcelona style.
“I played two full matches in a row since Klopp [arrived]. I went up against Leicester, I scored, I followed up with a game and a goal to Sunderland, and then we lost to West Ham and since then I have been discarded.
“Even my father was annoyed at first by my status as a reservist and told me that I can do nothing. I spoke with Eden [Hazard] and with Marouane [Fellaini], they all gave me the same answer – when a coach does not count on you, you cannot change anything. I never would have signed if I had not been the priority of the coach.”
“Despite the situation I am in, I am second top scorer behind [Roberto] Firmino, with eight goals. This is not so bad.
Benteke, whose contract with Liverpool runs until June 2020, has been linked with a move to West Ham in the summer, with the London club’s co-chairman David Sullivan publicly confirming they are monitoring the player, who scored 49 goals in 101 games for Villa having arrived there from Genk for £7m in 2012.
“In January I didn’t want to leave and it’s still my desire to succeed at Liverpool. We’ll see at the end of the season,” said Benteke, who is currently with a Belgium squad dealing with the aftermath of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels.
Benteke’s club and international team-mate Simon Mignolet has offered him support. “Everyone knows his qualities,” the goalkeeper told the Belgian TV station Sporza. “When you’re a footballer you want to play in all the matches and it’s not easy when you’re on the bench.
“He’s continuing to work hard at training and for his place. He does his best every day.”
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