Belgium already has five goals to his name in just five appearances for Villa so far this season.
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Premier League strugglers Aston Villa are said to be bracing themselves for an imminent club-versus-country row involving injured front man Christian Benteke, according to reports in the Daily Star.
The prolific Belgium international suffered a serious looking hip injury in last Saturday’s Premier League encounter against Norwich City at Carrow Road, with the striker being forced to leave the field of play just before half-time.
And after tests on the problem area earlier this week, Benteke was ruled out of action for six weeks, meaning he would miss his country’s Fifa World Cup qualifying double header against Croatia and Wales next month.
However, the Midlands club expect Benteke to now make a far quicker recovery than initially thought, with the 22-year-old even believed likely to be back in action at some point early next month, with the player himself revealing on Thursday night: “I’m already off the crutch and will be back soon.”
All of which has created a potential problem for Villa head coach Paul Lambert, who is loathed to see his star man feature for his country next month if he has only just returned to full fitness with his club, especially as Belgium now only need just a single point from their remaining two ties in order to qualify for next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.
“He’s doing great,” confirmed Lambert. “I think he’s going to be back quicker than we first thought.
“We’ve got two games and then the international break. At first we feared he could be out for some considerable time.
“The crutches were just to take the weight off it. But if he doesn’t play for us, I don’t think he will be fit for Belgium.
“I think Belgium are going to go through and qualify without Christian. I understand Belgium’s point of view, but we are his club.
“We’ve got people looking after him here. Belgium want to see him, which is their call.”