Aston Villa striker has eyes on Anfield
According to reports this morning, Aston Villa striker wants to complete a summer switch to Liverpool and will ignore any interest shown from Tottenham Hotspur.
It emerged yesterday that Spurs were plotting a player-swap deal for Benteke, with Emmanuel Adebayor going in the opposite direction, but the Belgium international doesn’t want to head to North London.
Benteke’s Time at Villa
The 24-year-old is expected to leave Villa Park after two impressive seasons in England since arriving from Genk, and after Tim Sherwood helped save his 2014/2015 campaign, interest in the striker is high.
Benteke struggled throughout most of last season under Paul Lambert, but that all changed once Sherwood took over, and Benteke ended the season on 13 goals, with 11 of them coming under the new boss.
Despite his seemingly good working relationship with Sherwood, Benteke is still wanting to leave Villa in order to play at a higher level and although Brendan Rodgers‘ side aren’t in the Champions League, he still wants to complete a switch to Anfield.
Transfer Fee
The two clubs will need to come to a mutual agreement regarding transfer fee, but the Midlands club are adamant that they won’t accept anything under the Belgium’s release clause.
Benteke has a £32.4million clause in his contract, but as it stands, Liverpool are refusing to pay that much.
It’s believed The Reds will offer around £25m for the striker.
Striker Changes
Rodgers is in the market for a new striker, with his options all flopping last year after Luis Suarez departed the club. Fabio Borini, Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert all struggled, whilst Daniel Sturridge couldn’t stay fit.
Danny Ings has already arrived from Burnley and Divock Origi will return from his season-long loan from Lille, but Rodgers wants a fourth option and Benteke is his favoured target.
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
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