Former Aston Villa star Stan Collymore can see wantaway Christian Benteke spending the season on the bench.

Collymore insists Villa are under no pressure to sell Benteke, 22, who was a £7m capture from Genk last summer.

He told the Daily Star Sunday: "There is a World Cup coming up next summer and Lambert has a track record that shows, if you cross him, he will leave you on the bench.

"Villa's financial outlay on Benteke isn't enough to stop Lambert saying, 'If you start messing us around we will be quite happy to leave you out'."