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Christian Benteke will become a free agent this January once his contract with DC United expires

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Christian Benteke is set to become a free agent this January for the first time in his career when his contract with MLS side DC United expires, and at 35, he could well be on his way back to Europe for one last hurrah.

45-time capped former Belgian international Christian Benteke will be a name familiar to the majority of fans of English football, having made 280 appearances in the Premier League across ten years in the division, playing for the likes of Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Crystal Palace.

Following his departure from Palace in 2022, Benteke travelled across the North Atlantic Ocean to link up with American outfit DC United, and has spent the last three-and-a-half years ripping up the MLS.

The Belgian scored 49 goals and grabbed 11 assists in 100 appearances for DC United across all competitions during his time with the club, and he announced on Monday that he would be leaving the club upon the expiry of his contract next month.

Benteke's next destination is not known, but it's likely that he will return to Europe in the closing stages of his excellent career.

Having spent ten years in England, he will know the country well, and with him unlikely to be leading any forward lines in the Premier League at this stage, a blockbuster move to the EFL Championship could be on the cards.

Christian Benteke could be the 'key' for Coventry City's promotion ambitions

Football League World's Coventry City fan pundit, Chris, has shared his views on whether he would sign Benteke for the Sky Blues as a free agent if he had the opportunity to do so.

In Chris' view, Benteke is still "more than capable of ripping up the Championship". He believes the Belgian marksman would be a shrewd alternative to former Leeds United star Patrick Bamford, who had been training with the Sky Blues before completing a move to Championship rivals Sheffield United instead.

Indeed, Chris would do whatever it takes to bring Benteke to the CBS Arena, even if the veteran's wage demands are significant.

Chris said, "I would absolutely love it if we could sign Christian Benteke. I think he is still more than capable of ripping up the Championship, scoring twenty-plus goals in a season.

"There are a couple of concerns; I would be a little bit worried that it might turn out a little bit like Yakubu did at the end of his career, where he made three bit-part appearances for us, played for a matter of minutes across all of them, and then rode off into the sunset and retired.

"The MLS is a better league than what people give it credit for. You know, you get people on social media who will say 'Oxford could win the MLS.' No, they couldn't, let's not be silly.

"It's a perfectly good league with quite a lot of very good players, and Benteke didn't exactly have a bad record there over the few seasons that he was at DC United.

"I think one of the obvious stumbling blocks could be wages. He's not going to be earning pennies, is he? He's going to be on the higher end of the wage structure.

"We don't pay anyone more than £25k-30k-per-week. I get the feeling that he would probably want more than that, and there are obviously a lot of teams in our league who can pay more than that, and a lot more than what we can.

"Doug King seems to have very strict rules on who we can sign and how much we will pay them.

"I was personally gutted that we didn't sign Bamford, as I think he would have been an asset coming off the bench for 20-30 minutes for the rest of the season.

"I think we have really messed up in not signing him, and I'm really quite annoyed that King has stepped in when Lampard had identified that he wanted Bamford and identified that he could do a job for us.

"I think the other stumbling block as well for Benteke would be, does he want to be the main striker wherever he goes? I know he is 35 now, but he is clearly more than capable.

"Would he want to be our first-choice striker ahead of Haji Wright when he is fit?

"As much as I'm indifferent on Haji, as you know, he's incredibly inconsistent, I think it would be very unfair to bring in someone like Benteke, who is towards the end of their career, and put them straight into the number nine spot, first name on the team sheet kind of thing.

"I think we should absolutely go in off rim, £40k-50k-per week. I don't care what it takes.

"I think he could be the key to us getting promoted, and keep him around for the first six months of the Premier League to see if he has still got what it takes to score against top teams."

Frank Lampard missed out on Patrick Bamford and may turn to Christian Benteke as the final piece of the puzzle

Coventry have launched themselves into the prime position for promotion this season, leading the EFL Championship table by a mightily impressive ten points after 18 games, and look almost unstoppable on their day.

Head coach Frank Lampard has got the Sky Blues playing some wonderful stuff, especially in the final third, having netted 50 league goals already, yet, he is seemingly still lacking something in attack.

Coventry were close to signing Patrick Bamford as a free agent before owner Doug King changed his mind on the deal, and the former Leeds United forward would subsequently sign for Sheffield United instead.

Upon signing for the Blades, Bamford said: "And then the owner decided that he didn't want to do the deal, that the team was flying. Which they are.

"I have no hard feelings towards him whatsoever, it’s completely fine. I obviously spoke to Frank, he apologised and just said that he was happy to have me in there.

"It's a shame that it didn't go through, but I just said that I was really grateful for him letting me train and obviously get my fitness up. Which actually helped because then, when I came in here, it's obviously made it a lot easier in terms of hitting the ground running."

Lampard clearly wants another option up top with Haji Wright out injured, leaving just Ellis Simms as the only other natural number nine, despite Brandon Thomas-Asante's ability to play there also.

Benteke could well be an option, and he may be tempted by the prospect of earning some more silverware before his retirement, which is almost certain to happen should he join Coventry, and may be the final piece of the puzzle to secure that illustrious second tier title.