West Ham United might just be on the verge of doing over their London rivals Crystal Palace in the ace to sign the Liverpool striker Christian Benteke. If they can pull it off it would be oh so sweet for the fans, who watched as Andros Townsend signed for Palace only last week.
Ironically enough, if West Ham win this transfer battle some of the money will certainly have come from Palace themselves, who this week bought James Tomkins from the Hammers for £10 million.
Both sides suffered heartache in their efforts to scoop one of the biggest targets of the window when the striker Michy Batshuayi wound up at Chelsea. It would be a crushing blow to Palace if they were also to lose out on Benteke.
The 25 year old Belgian hasn’t exactly set the heather on fire at Anfield, following his £32.5 million move from Aston Villa, but a lot of players have struggled in their first year and it was thought that Jurgen Klopp might want to keep him at the club for another season. But in recent weeks it’s become clear that the German has other plans, and the club is willing to let him go … but only if the price is right.
Whether either of the London clubs is willing to pay that remains to be seen, but Palace have been out in front of this one and looked certain to close the deal. But tonight West Ham have come in with a late bid and that is believed to be closer to Liverpool’s ideal valuation.
Benteke would be an important signing, especially in light of tonight’s news that Diafra Sakho had handed in a formal transfer request. He could be on the move to Sunderland, with Sam Allardyce having bid £11 million for him earlier this month.
The transfer merry-go-round goes on and on