West Ham could be relieving us of Christian Benteke, if morning reports – such as this one in the Express – are to believed.
The Irons play their final game at Upton Park tonight before moving to the Olympic Stadium next term, and chairman David Gold has boldly claimed his team will spending big money on a forward – making a bid as soon as this week.
“We’re going to make a £20m or £25m bid for a player in England later this week. Whatever happens we intend to bring a top striker in,” the outspoken 79-year-old said.
Other reports suggest the player could be Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, but the Express is confident it’s Liverpool’s Christian Benteke.
For £25m, we should probably snap Gold’s hand off. That would represent only a £7.25m loss on what we spent on the Belgian last summer, but considering we spent that kind of money on Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas and Tiago Ilori, it’s hardly catastrophic.
Benteke’s struggles at Liverpool haven’t been entirely his fault. He was bought as a result of his success at Aston Villa, but was then expected to change his style upon Jurgen Klopp’s arrival.
The forward’s movement doesn’t benefit our attacking midfielders, and his finishing this season has left a lot to be desired as well – despite a fairly good return of nine goals in just 19 starts since his transfer.
If West Ham are willing to stump up that kind of cash, we shouldn’t stand in Benteke’s way. With Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and Danny Ings we have forward options, and Klopp could use that money to buy add a more suited attacker to our ranks ahead of next term.