Liverpool fans got their first sight of Christian Benteke this afternoon, and won’t have been disappointed.
The Belgian striker was making his Reds debut alongside fellow new boy Roberto Firmino in a friendly against Swindon Town, and opened his Liverpool account after 48 minutes.
He controlled a flick-on from Joao Teixeira on his chest and acrobatically thumped a volley into the top corner from just outside of the area, as you can see in the below video.
The 24-year-old will hope that this goal will help calm the debate as to whether he was worth the £32.5m release clause that Liverpool triggered to bring him from Aston Villa last month, as BBC Sport reports.
Benteke scored 42 Premier League goals for Villa, 13 of which were headers. No player can match that figure over the past three seasons, but his skilful finish here proves that he is more than a target man.
Crosses have not been a part of the Brendan Rodgers blueprint at Liverpool, with whoscored.com calculating that the Reds only delivered on average 17 per game throughout the 2014-15 campaign.
There seem to have been signs in their pre-season performances that the Merseysiders are whipping more balls into the box, perhaps in preparation for Benteke leading their line.
But with Danny Ings and Divock Origi having also joined this summer, and Daniel Sturridge still to return from injury, Rodgers certainly has options to consider for Liverpool’s opener against Stoke City.
Liverpool won today’s friendly 2-1, with teenage forward Sheyi Ojo scoring an 87th-minute winner after former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jonathan Obika equalised for League One club Swindon.
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