Benteke’s fee is over double the previous record fee paid by Palace, England worldwide winger Andros Townsend moving from Newcastle in July for £13 million.
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The clubs have agreed a deal reported to be worth 27 million pounds ($35.48 million) plus extras that could rise close to the 32-and-a-half million that Liverpool paid Aston Villa for the Belgian worldwide a year ago.
Benteke scoring nine goals in 14 Premier League starts, plus another 15 as a substitute.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew confirmed the agreement on Friday while fielding questions in a pre-match conference ahead of Palace’s Premiership game with Tottenham Hotspur.
Pardew, the Palace manager, said: “It’s important when you lose iconic players to try and replace them with iconic players”. I thought he’d be a fantastic fit for that club.
With the necessity so high for the Reds to get a true first team left back in during the next two weeks, an injury prone star from Spain isn’t likely to have the resilience left for a league as physically demanding at the Premier League.
“He’s someone I know very, very well because I wanted to take him to Newcastle”, said Pardew.
Benteke became Palace’s fourth signing of the summer following the arrival of Andros Townsend from Newcastle, Steve Mandanda from Marseille and James Tomkins from West Ham United. We’ve lost two this week, Mile Jedinak and [Yannick] Bolasie.
Midfielder Yohan Cabaye was Palace’s top scorer with just five goals and Pardew has thanked the club’s hierarchy for addressing the lack of firepower in his squad.
“I’m pleased that the board have been courageous with this one and I thank them”. “I could have done better, but I think I also needed some trust from the manager and the staff”.
For the final itself Benteke was on the bench and made what looks to be his final appearance in the Red shirt, for the last seven minutes of the game with Liverpool trailing 3-1.
The deal makes sense for both Liverpool and Crystal Palace.The writing was on the wall as soon as Klopp was hired, the difference in managerial philosophy and player style was just too big.
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‘I don’t see Romelu Lukaku worth £60m and Benteke at £30m: if we are talking value, I’d have Benteke all day long.
