As we articulated earlier this month, Liverpool have been the most active and interesting Premier League club this summer transfer window. Anfield has brought in six new players thus far, and Christian Benteke from Aston Villa could be next. The BBC reports that Liverpool are set to meet his £32.5 million release clause and sign the striker.
If Benteke indeed joins the Reds, he would be the biggest name brought over this summer. Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino joined for a fee of £29 million, a price that shows Liverpool are prepared to pay big money this summer.
With Southampton right-back Nathaniel Clyne also joining Liverpool for a fee believed to be around £13 million, Brendan Rodgers has spent big already, and we’re only mid July. Liverpool have been the most active Premier League club in the transfer market. There’s no shortage of story lines; especially with the Raheem Sterling soap opera beginning in May and dragging on until this past Sunday. Now with that financial windfall from the Sterling sale, Rodgers has money to spend, and he’ll need to spend it wisely; much wiser than he invested the cash infusion that came from the sale of Luis Suarez.
Most of the players that Rodgers brought over last summer flopped, and the Reds fell from 2nd to 6th.
Benteke would be a nice addition though. Not sure if he’s truly worth £32.5 million, but Anfield certainly needs to add some scoring punch. Sterling scored 7 goals and contributed 7 assists last season and that needs to be replaced. Numerous other outlets, including Liverpool Echo, have also picked up the report that Benteke is Liverpool is about to happen. That’s completely different from what The Sun reported this morning. They claimed Christian Benteke was headed to Manchester United; not Liverpool.
Right now, the consensus seems to be that he’s headed to Merseyside; not Old Trafford.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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