Belgian worldwide striker Christian Benteke became Crystal Palace’s record signing on Saturday as the Premier League club paid £27 million (Dh130m) with add-ons to end his unhappy spell at rivals Liverpool.
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Christian Benteke’s short-lived Liverpool career is set to come to an end after the club accepted Crystal Palace’s bid of £27million plus add-ons for the Belgium striker.
Benteke, who scored 10 goals in 42 games for the Reds, has signed a four-year deal with Palace.
“I think it was probably the right time for Andros to move from Tottenham, because we thought about it a little bit, that it was not what we could do at the time”, he told the Croydon Advertiser.
Pardew told a news conference prior to Saturday’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur that “everything” has been agreed with the Anfield club for the transfer of the Belgium global.
“I’ve met the manager a few times before I signed and that’s why I wanted to come here”.
“It’s important when you lose iconic players to try to replace them with iconic players”.
“His style of play is that he feeds off crosses and we’re the top crossing team in the Premier League bar one, I think”.
Palace had more money to spend following the sale of Yannick Bolasie to Everton for £25m and Mile Jedinak to Aston Villa for £4m.
“Both were massive figures at this club and we will need to replace them with big figures”, he added. “He gets the sort of goals you would expect, but now and then he just pulls a rabbit out of the hat with a goal”.
“I’m pleased that the board have been fearless with this one and I thank them”.
However, Pardew also mentioned that Palace are yet to agree personal terms with the player but expect the transfer to be completed in the next 24-48 hours.
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“We have to build a squad where everybody has a perspective to play”, Klopp said. “It was never easy, so from that I know that we have some good players”.
