Belgian international suffers huge injury blow.
Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke has been ruled out for at least six months with a tear to his Achilles tendon and as a result will miss the World Cup, the Metro reports.
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The news was first broken by respected Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, the story was quickly picked up by the national press before the club released an official statement confirming that he had picked up the injury.
Benteke, 23, has netted 11 goals for Aston Villa this season, including six in his last 11 matches.
The news will come as a blow to Villa boss Paul Lambert, as though his side are eight point clear of the drop they are still not yet mathematically safe, and he had been relying on the big striker to fire the team to safety.
Villa have confirmed the striker will be out for a ‘minimum of six months’ after sustaining the injury in training today, which sees him ruled out of the World Cup, as well as the start of next season.
Boss Paul Lambert said: ‘It’s a terrible blow both for Christian and for the club.
‘He will miss the rest of the season, obviously, and also the World Cup. But he’ll work hard because that’s what he does and he’ll come back for us stronger than ever next season.’