Liverpool have ruled out spending £32.5m on Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, despite selling Raheem Sterling for an English record transfer fee of £49m earlier this week – as BBC Sport confirm.
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According to the reports in the Daily Mirror, the Reds remain keen on the 24-year-old but our owners won’t let the extra cash now weighing down their pockets tempt them into paying over the odds.
Brendan Rodgers looks certain to reinvest as much of the Sterling money as he can before the start of the season – although it’s worth remembering that Sterling’s former club, Queens Park Rangers, are entitled to 20% of the fee.
Benteke has been on the Northern Irishman’s radar for sometime, if sources such as the Mirror are to be believed, but Villa’s refusal to compromise on their asking price means that a deal remains unlikely at this stage.
The powerful Belgian scored 15 goals in all competitions last season, guiding Villa to Premier League safety and the FA Cup final, but his performances still hold an inconsistency that is troubling to most of us onlookers.
The source also states that Rickie Lambert is likely to remain a Liverpool player until Rodgers finds an acceptable addition to his forward line. Divock Origi and Danny Ings are the only other senior strikers currently on our books, as well as Daniel Sturridge who is not due back from injury for another couple of months.