Liverpool FC Forum

by **Reg** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:26 am

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 99543.html

Christian Benteke to Liverpool: Aston Villa agree to sell striker to Reds with medical to be carried out early next week

Benteke will join in a £32.5m transfer with Liverpool set to split the payment in half and pay £16m up front for the Belgian striker

Liverpool have reached a deal with Aston Villa to sign Christian Benteke with the striker set to undergo a medical in the next 24 hours ahead of his £32.5m transfer.

Just two days after Villa saw club captain Fabian Delph join Manchester City in an £8m deal, their star striker looks to be on the verge of completing a move away from the club after three years at Villa Park.

24-year-old Benteke has made it clear that he would like to leave after rejecting the chance to sign a new contract, and with Villa inserting a £32.5m release clause in his current deal, Liverpool have move to activate the buy-out fee and open talks with the Belgium international.

Having made the original offer during the week, officials from both clubs discussed how the payment would be made, with an agreement over the structure agreed in a meeting between Liverpool’s chief executive Ian Ayre and Villa’s Tom Fox.

Ayre is currently in Australia with the rest of the Liverpool squad on their pre-season tour, and negotiations have dragged through the night in both England and Down Under to accommodate for the time difference.

It’s reported that Liverpool will pay £16m up front, with the rest of the fee set to be paid in instalments, although they are not performance-based given that the Reds have to pay the total figure in order to activate the release clause.

Benteke is set to have a medical in London alongside Liverpool’s club doctor Andy Massey, who is currently on his way back from Australia to put Benteke through his paces, meaning that completion of the deal will have to wait until early next week.

But the striker is set to become Liverpool’s seventh addition to the first-team squad this summer as part of Brendan Rodgers’ squad revamp. James Milner and Adam Bogdan were brought in on free transfer while Danny Ings was signed following the expiration of his Burnley contract, although the club will have to pay the Clarets a compensation fee that will be decided by tribunal.

Christian Benteke is set to join Liverpool Christian Benteke is set to join Liverpool Nathaniel Clyne, Roberto Firmino and Joe Gomez were also signed by the club this summer, while last year’s acquisition Divock Origi finally arrived on Merseyside following a season-long loan with Lille – the side that Liverpool signed the Belgian from.

The addition of Ings and now Benteke looks to have spelt the end for at least two of Liverpool’s three misfit strikers. Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli have all been linked with moves away from the club this summer, and with only Lambert being included on the pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East, it appears that Borini and Balotelli are set to be sold.

Balotelli could be one of those to leave this summer Balotelli could be one of those to leave this summer Meanwhile Benteke will become the club’s second most expensive signing in their history, as the £32.5m fee comes just £2.5m shy of the £35m the club paid Newcastle to sign Andy Carroll in 2011. The England striker went on to endure a torrid time at Anfield and joined West Ham last year for £15m.

by **metalhead** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:15 am

I have a feeling he is an andy carroll 2.0

anyways welcome to the cloob

by **Fowler_E7** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:58 am

Brendan Rodgers logic, buy another target man after giving Carroll the boot, refusing to use Lambert and Ballotelli but this genius thinks it will all be different with Christian Benteke :help

praying by some miracle he will be a success for us but i doubt it with that bafoon at the helm.

by **algymoon** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:33 pm

Benteke is a very good finisher and top target player, however for all to see whether this idiot BR will alter his style to fit playing around Benteke? which I doubt very much, he will the same as Mario and other target players in LFC squad.
I think Bentake will be wasted by this idiot manager, regardless what system he opt to play!!!!!.
No high hope for LFC under BR!

by **C-R** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:35 pm

Will be a good signing when officially done :lookaround

by **Pig Catcher** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:10 pm

I thought we weren’t doing official threads until LFC.TV announced the signing? ahahahahahahahahaha

by **metalhead** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:37 pm

Pig Catcher » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:10 pm wrote:I thought we weren’t doing official threads until LFC.TV announced the signing? ahahahahahahahahaha

still catching pigs? get it? GET IT?

taxi

(random post)

by **stmichael** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:42 pm

metalhead » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:15 am wrote:I have a feeling he is an andy carroll 2.0

anyways welcome to the cloob

He's a much better player than Carroll ever was. I don't get where this notion of him merely being a target man comes from.

Under Sherwood at Villa, they stopped being as direct and Benteke scored 13 in 13 as a result. Yes he's excellent in the air but his link up play is decent aswell.

by **metalhead** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:56 pm

stmichael » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:42 pm wrote:
metalhead » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:15 am wrote:I have a feeling he is an andy carroll 2.0

anyways welcome to the cloob

He's a much better player than Carroll ever was. I don't get where this notion of him merely being a target man comes from.

Under Sherwood at Villa, they stopped being as direct and Benteke scored 13 in 13 as a result. Yes he's excellent in the air but his link up play is decent aswell.

The things I've seen Benteke do is that he is strong, hold the ball well and aerially good. He is a decent player, but he wouldn't make it into any of the top 4 first team, and for 32.5m I think we wasted lots of money when we could have spent it elsewhere for better players

by **mart** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:59 pm

metalhead » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:15 am wrote:I have a feeling he is an andy carroll 2.0

anyways welcome to the cloob

He is much better than Andy Carrol, however i'm not so sure we will play in a way that suits him.

by **UvS xR4GEx** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:23 pm

Apparently Rodgers knows nothing about the Benteke deal..

by **supersub** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:03 pm

Benteke set to spend Anfield career on the bench because Bodgers plays dumber and dumber

by **RedAnt** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:16 pm

I dunno wether to laugh or cry. We cheer the £49m sale of Sterling, thinking we screwed City and then pay £32m for Villas star player. Wonders never cease.

Good luck to him.

by **maguskwt** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:44 pm

Maybe Benteke is exactly what we need. He can be the counter balance to the skillful but less physical Sturridge and other players. Remember how effective Mourinho used Drogba? I do think that Benteke has alot more to offer than Carroll. We should wait and see how he actually performs in the red shirt instead of slagging him before he has kicked a ball for us.

by **RedAnt** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:49 pm

I'm not slagging him off mate. Not sure anyone is. He's a decent player. I think most people are wondering where he'll fit in and wether or not we could have bought a couple of £16m players who would fit our supposed philosophy.

Liverpool FC Forum

CHRISTIAN BENTEKE - Official Thread

Who is online