This is hardly the most glowing endorsement from a chairman on a new signing!
Liverpool sold Christian Benteke to Crystal Palace in the summer for a fee which could rise to £32m, which will recoup us the money we spent to bring him in from Aston Villa in 2015.
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Considering Benteke was surplus to requirements at Anfield after a lacklustre debut Liverpool season, this was a mighty success.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has admitted that at first he couldn’t believe his club’s wealthy investors would stump up so much cash for the Belgian.
“I thought it was madness,” he said when asked about his initial thoughts on Benteke’s £32m deal – reported by the Echo.
“They [the investors] have more money than me!
“But they looked seriously at buying Aston Villa before and so he [Benteke] was a player that was familiar to them and they wanted to do it.
“You do wrap your head around it, but looking at it now [and what has gone on in the transfer window] I don’t think it was outrageous.
“To sign a striker with that track record, there aren’t many of them around.
“I watched him at Liverpool and he still did okay.
“They probably didn’t suit him as well, with the way they are playing – he needs to get crosses in for him.
“Any doubts that I may have had evaporated as soon as I met him.
“He is a player that cares and he wanted to come to the football club and I have great faith also that he will get goals.”
Benteke’s yet to get off the mark for the Eagles, but if they play to his strengths – we reckon he’ll do well at Selhurst, even for the hefty price.
His failures at Liverpool were not entirely his fault: the manager that signed him, Brendan Rodgers, was sacked almost immediately – and his replacement Jurgen Klopp didn’t have time for the striker.
It’s just one of those things that happens in football, so the best thing for all parties was a swift summer departure, which we thankfully got.