The Curse of the Aston Villa Calendar

Start of July and it's time to turn-over my Aston Villa 2015 Calendar. Who's it going to be this month?

It's Christian Benteke and Libor Kozak. What has happened to Libor? Tune into Talk Sport and they are suggesting that within 48 hours, Benteke will be a Liverpool player. Has the curse of the  Aston Villa Calendar struck again?

Sadly, Christian will probably leave us this summer if a club offers the £32.5m buyout figure. It'll be sad because he's a fantastic talent and his 1 in 2 goal ratio is something Villa fans have not seen since the days of David Platt.

Benteke really is the complete forward; brilliant in the air, skillful on the ground and can play the perfect pass. If I'm honest (just between Villa fans) he's too good for the team we currently have. He's also too good for both Liverpool and Tottenham. If I had to pick an English team for him to fit right into it would probably be  Chelsea. With 'Tekkers linking up with Hazard they would be unstoppable.

But this isn't a goodbye tribute to Christian Benteke becasue I would still love one more season out of the big man. Benteke is destined for the very top. One day I'm sure we will see him score in a Champions League Final. We must make sure we include a 'sell-on' clause. He is that good. The only Villa forward I can think of that came close to Benteke was Juan Pablo Angel.

Don't panic though, a big money sale of Benteke does not necessarily mean bad news for Villa though. History teaches us that.

Growing up I was heart broken when Andy Gray left us to join my brother's team Wolves for a British record of £1.5m.

But with that money with in three years Ron Saunders had given us our first league title for 71 years (it's all in my new book 'Just 14' ) and put us on the brink of European glory. Players like Tony Morley, Des Bremner and Peter Withe bought with the Gray money. Wolves in contrast in 1982 went into Receivership, although Gray did win them the League Cup in 1980.

Shoot forward to the summer of 1989, when leading goalscorer Alan 'Rambo' McInally joined Bayern Munich for £1.3m. The following  season Graham Taylor took a near relegation team to Runners-up (we should have won the league, but gambled a million on Tony Cascarino instead).

Then July 1991, David Platt (50 goals in 121 appearances) was sold to Bari for a staggering £5.5m. Two years later Ron Atkinson had taken a struggling team to Runners-up in the first ever Premier League. A year later 1994 our first trophy for 11 years.

So if Benteke does go for mega money it might just kick-start Aston Villa.

Still hope Benteke stays.