No concerns for Rodgers over Benteke style

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says he has no concerns over Christian Benteke’s ability to fit seamlessly into the club’s footballing philosophy.

Benteke completed his move from Aston Villa on Wednesday, after Liverpool activated the Belgium international’s £32.5million release clause.

Under Rodgers, Liverpool have developed a reputation for playing stylish, attractive football, but the signing of target-man Benteke raised questions in some quarters over the striker’s ability to adapt to that method.

Rodgers, however, does not share those fears.

“There’s a number of qualities that he has and he will only improve in his time at the club,” the manager said.

“I think first and foremost his goals, if you look at his goals record since the time that he’s been in the Premier League he’s up there with the best in terms of numbers. So that was very important for us.

“Obviously I’ve heard and I’ve seen stuff about the style, ‘he won’t fit the style of how we play’ – I think he’ll only complement it and help us.

“He’s a big guy but he’s got the attributes that I like in terms of pace and movement and he gets goals, he gets all types of goals.

“He’s great in the air, strong, he can hold the game up, he can play on the counter-attack, he can play whenever the team is deep because he can hold the ball up with his physical strength.

“As I said, he’s a boy that still is improving in his game so I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll fit our tactical idea of the game and he can be a huge player for us.”