Crystal Palace have reached an agreement with Liverpool to sign Belgian striker Christian Benteke for a total fee of £32 Million. Trustworthy Liverpool journalist, Paul Joyce, has reported that the Eagles' bid amounts to £27 Million upfront with further £5 millions as add-ons.
Palace had decided to break club transfer records by signing Benteke for a record fee of £32 Million(Crystal Palace's previous record transfer was Andros Townsend who joined the club for a fee of £13 Million from Newcastle earlier this summer).
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The £32 Million bid from the London club is the third one they have submitted for the Belgian international. Liverpool had rejected a £30 Million (£23m + £7m as add-ons) for the 25-year-old from the Eagles earlier this week.
Reports state that the clauses for the add-ons in that bid were not sensible (it included Crystal Palace finishing in the top four and also Benteke scoring 20+ goals this season), whereas the clauses in the new bid are realistic and achievable.
Crystal Palace couped about £30 Million from Liverpool's local rivals, Everton, for the sale of Yannick Bolasie this week and they are not hesitant to spend it on a striker. Not having a proper goalscoring striker was Crystal Palace's main problem last season and also in their Premier League opener against West Bromwich Albion last week.
Alan Pardew and the Eagles' fans will be hoping that they have found the solution for their goalscoring problems with the signing of Liverpool's Christian Benteke. Liverpool, on the other hand, will be happy that they are able to recoup almost all the amount they paid for the striker.
"Personal terms have to be done but we've agreed everything with Liverpool," Pardew told a news conference.
"He is someone I know very well as I wanted to take him to Newcastle. It just didn't work out for him at Liverpool but we want to get him back to doing what he does best."
Even though the big frontman scored 10 goals from 42 appearances for the Reds last season, he failed to impress the manager and fans. It was clear that Christian Benteke is not in Klopp's plans for this season after the German excluded him from Liverpool's pre-season tours and also the squad for their season opener against Arsenal last week.
The former Borussia Dortmund manager even openly said that Benteke was not needed at the club. Benteke is set to have his medical on Friday and he is expected to be announced as a Crystal Palace player by the end of the week.
