by Lewis Ambrose

Arsenal icon Ray Parlour has said the club should look to move for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, who would be available for around £30M this summer.

“Benteke would be great signing and a real asset at Arsenal,” said Parlour.

“He is powerful, strong, robust and good in the air, which is something that would enhance Arsenal’s attacking options.

“I would love to see him at Arsenal, I really would.”

The Belgian forward scored 11 goals in the final 11 Premier League games of last season, fuelling reports that Liverpool could be interested in signing him. Benteke has a release clause in his current contract, which runs until 2017, but the player’s agent has said he won’t be signing a new deal.

Cheaper

If nobody meets the release clause of £32.5M Aston Villa may be forced to sell for less, or risk losing the striker for absolutely nothing in 24 months time.

However, I can’t say that I agree with Parlour.

Arsenal handled the Belgian with incredible ease in the FA Cup Final at Wembley back in May as we strolled to the cup with a 4-0 win.

With Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sánchez Arsenal already have enough quality options up front and, while also being inferior to those players technically, Benteke doesn’t really add anything we don’t have already.