Can Benteke score more than 20 goal in his first season @ Liverpool?

Brendan Rodgers has secured the services of the Belgium international and the bookmakers expect him to be challenging for the top-scorer award at Anfield straight away

Raheem Sterling's big-money move to Manchester City left Brendan Rodgers in a familiar situation: without one of his best players, but with a significant budget available to bring in reinforcements. 

There is no doubt that the players brought in to try to plug the goalscoring gap left by Luis Suarez was far from a success last term, but the bookmakers are expecting Christian Benteke to provide plenty of return for his £32.5 million transfer fee.

The 24-year-old frontman looks to be the final piece in the Reds' attacking jigsaw after a summer which has also seen the Merseyside club spend big on Roberto Firmino, add Danny Ings and finally bring in another Belgian, Divock Origi, to England after he completed his loan spell with former club Lille.



bet365 have set Benteke's projected goal line at 14.5 for his first season in a Liverpool shirt - that's a tally that he has only surpassed once in his three seasons in the top flight. 

Punters can back either side of that line at 5/6 (1.83) with the firm and there is also the option to wager that the former Aston Villa man will notch 20 times in the 2015-16 campaign - that's on offer at 6/1 (7.0) with the same firm.

While Benteke failed to find any sort of form under Paul Lambert in his final year in the West Midlands, the rapid improvement under new Villa boss Tim Sherwood made his the most prolific striker in the Premier League from February 14 onwards, scoring 11 of his 13 goals after the former Tottenham boss took over.

bet365's Steve Freeth said: "Benteke was a constant thorn in the side of Liverpool despite playing for a struggling side and we feel if he gets the service then he can carry on scoring at an impressive rate."



Given his impressive end to the last campaign, Benteke will have his backers at 16/1 (17.0) to finish atop the Premier League scorer charts but it will be intriguing to see how Rodgers accommodates all of his attacking options with Daniel Sturridge, returning to fitness as well as the likes of Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert still at the club at the time of writing, along the new arrivals who will provide competition to their big-money acquisition.

There is also a market available on how many goals Benteke will score against his former club, with none (13/8), one (6/4), two (7/2) and three or more (10/1) all priced up by bet365.