Crystal Palace Reach Agreement With Liverpool For Benteke
Crystal Palace have reached an agreement to sign Belgian striker Christian Benteke from Liverpool for a £27m initial fee.
The 25-year-old signed for Liverpool under previous manager Brendan Rodgers. However, under Rodgers’ successor Jurgen Klopp, the striker has failed to nail down a regular starting berth.
He began his career at Standard Liège, playing a part in their 2008-2009 Belgium First Division triumph.
He spent the following season on loan at KV Mechelen as part of the transfer of Aloys Nong, who moved from Mechelen to Standard Liège. Benteke’s spell at Mechelen was less successful, with only 7 goals from 25 appearances.
He moved back to Standard Liège the next season, and had a successful campaign, where he scored 16 goals and bagged 9 assists in 20 games.
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After beginning the 2012-2013 season with 3 goals from 5 league matches, Benteke was subject of an offer of €6m from Premier League club Aston Villa in August.
Since moving to Villa, he scored 49 goals in 100 matches for the club across all competitions, helping them to the 2015 FA Cup Final, before transferring to Liverpool in 2015 for a fee of £32.5 million.
For the Merseyside club, however, Benteke has only managed to score 10 goals from 42 appearances in all competitions.
The Belgium international is set for a move away from the Reds, and is reportedly set to travel to London to finalise the deal with Crystal Palace. He will be the club’s record signing.
Winger Andros Townsend was the Eagles’ previous record signing, having joined from North London club Tottenham Hotspurs for a fee of £13m in July.
Crystal Palace strugged for goals last season, with only 39 goals being scored in 38 Premier League games. Benteke could certainly help with that. Judging by his impressive goal scoring record with Aston Villa, he can really help Palace by chipping in with at least 15-20 goals a season.
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