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When I first heard that Birmingham were about to splash out £9m on a South American wonderkid I pretty much dismissed the notion as yet another tabloid rumour. Forgive me for being cynical but I can still remember Blues being linked with Ronaldinho just before he signed for Paris St Germain, Christian Poulsen when Trevor Francis was manager, and I can even recall David Sullivan claiming he was close to signing Maradona shortly after he took over the club. However, it looks like this time the deal has actually come good. A club record fee believed to be around £6m with a further £3m in add-ons has been confirmed and Birmingham City has a new hero.
Step up Christian Benitez. The 23-year-old Ecuadorian international has spent the last two years playing for Santos Laguna in Mexico. At just 5”6 is he described as a pacey, skilful forward with good strength and has been likened in appearance to Mike Tyson. He has represented his country at a World Cup and has scored 10 goals in 17 games at international level. Known in Ecuador as ‘El Chucho’ or ‘El Chunky’ he has been attracting the attention of some of Europe’s top clubs and if his agent is to believed has been on Arsene Wenger’s wish list for some time.
Call me pessimistic but does anybody else have any reservations about this? I can’t claim to know much about South American football and I have never seen Benitez in action other than a few clips on YouTube. Everything I have read about him seems to be suggesting we might have a world-class player on our hands yet I still have a few little doubts creeping in. The best part of me is ready to hail King Benitez, the saviour of St Andrews, and sit back and watch as he runs Premier League defences riot, scores a hat full of goals and fires us into the Champions League! Sadly a little flicker at the back of my mind refuses to stop whispering ghastly, horrible names like Lucho Figueroa and Carlos Ferrari.
The deal itself is undisclosed but looks like it is around $15m, or £9.2m after the usual add-ons and clauses. At that price it is a massive chunk of our transfer kitty and if this lad flops then it will ultimately end in disaster. The board have spoken before though about sanctioning money out of their own pockets for a ‘special’ player. If Benitez is half as good as some of the reports and reviews about him then surely he fits this bill. In January the owners were prepared to fund a £5m move for Kris Boyd so hopefully this deal will not affect our summer spending too much. After all the stick the board have got over the past few years I think it’s important that they are congratulated for this move. Maybe they see this as a peace offering to the fans and a fresh start.
I’ll leave you with a little quote I found on the Birmingham Mail website from Benitez’s British-based agent Barry McIntosh:
“Benitez is as good as Messi and Tevez. It’s just the fact that he’s from Ecuador and his nationality overshadows just how good he actually he is. He’s far more experienced than Mauro Zarate was when he came to England and he’s got good feet, is skilful and is good in the air. I think we would be talking about £30million to £40million if he was Argentinean or Brazilian.
“He is better than Antonio Valencia and the equivalent of Messi.”
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1. Mark Tapia, Miami, Florida
wrote...
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Believe me when I tell you this, this man is a class act. I've been following him for about 3 years now and it's amazing how I've seen him develop. I'm happy to see that he has finally progressed to the next level. I wish your team and Mr. Benitez all the best. |
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2. Big Blue, USA
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Can I have some of what Barry McIntosh is smoking
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3. Aydan, Margate
wrote...
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If he is half as good as Messi I will be a happy bluenose! |
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