Aston Villa Transfers: 5 Replacements For Christian Benteke & Darren Bent
handing in a transfer request. The Belgian international will be allowed to leave this summer if "a suitable offer is made within an appropriate timeframe", according to the Midlands outfit, and we are all now set for a much-protracted transfer saga as a bidding war between some of the Premier League's top clubs commences. Though Benteke will prove difficult to replace at Villa Park, having last season finished as the club's top goalscorer and the fourth-highest in the Premier League, veteran Darren Bent is deemed surplus to requirements. Bent has been told by Villa manager Paul Lambert that he wont play for him again, and the Scotsman has even taken the extreme measure of banning the striker from training with the first-team. The departures of the two forwards would leave Lambert with just two senior strikers in Gabriel Agbonlahor and Andreas Weimann, plus rookies Graham Burke, Nathan Delfouneso, Jordan Bowery and untested new signing Nicklas Helenius, who has joined from Danish outfit AaB Fodbold. Considering the Villans were nearly relegated last season in spite of Benteke's goal-haul, it is quite clear they would struggle without him, and must now waste no time identifying adequate replacements - and that goes for Bent, too. Here, we examine 5 Replacements For Christian Benteke & Darren Bent.