Leandro Bacuna has praised Christian Benteke's optimism following his Achilles injury towards the end of last season.

The Aston Villa striker ruptured his Achilles in April, ruling him out of the World Cup with Belgium, as well as keeping him sidelined until October.

His teammate told the club's website: "The time he got injured was just before the World Cup. I felt really bad for him. I saw him smiling and stuff and I said to him 'do you not feel it'?

"He said that God just taught him to be happy. That's also what his parents taught him. Everybody who gets a big injury before a World Cup would feel it because everyone has feelings. But he just tried to take the positives out of it and move on.

"He's doing very well at the moment. I think next week he starts running. I hope he gets fit soon because he's a really important teammate. He's such a positive person."

Benteke scored 11 goals in 28 appearances for Villa last season.