I’ve not really taken much notice of the “Benteke to Liverpool” rumours, as Liverpool don’t strike me as being quite a big enough club to entice our prolific striker.
Of course, the rumoured £100,000 a week might interest Benteke, but you have to look at Pool’s chances of achieving Champions league status next season. My money says they’ve no chance, so you then have to wonder what Benteke might achieve by going there, the wages apart.
It seems from what I’ve been reading of Liverpool fan’s opinions that they don’t think he’ll suit Liverpool’s style anyway, with the main reason being that he’s another Andy Carroll, ie a bruising strong header of the ball.
While that is of course true, we all know that it’s not the only string to his bow.
Not that I care much, because I think he’s better than Liverpool anyway.
Which brings me to the latest rumour, which is that Mourinho at Chelsea fancies the player.
I have to admit, I find this rumour more than a little worrying, as they are certainly a club that would tick all of Benteke’s boxes, with every chance of being champions next season, Champions league footy, London and of course massive wages.
While the link is pretty much totally unfounded, with nothing other than the Daily Mirror’s story to support it, it does make sense as the word is that Drogba may be on his way out, which would leave Chelsea with Costa and Remy.
Which makes you wonder where Benteke would feature in the pecking order.
I’d like to think that this might be something that could work in our favour, as I suspect he wouldn’t immediately be given an automatic starting berth.
But if Benteke wants to prove himself at the highest level, he’s not going to walk into any top club and be guaranteed a start is he?
As I’ve mentioned before, I blame Tim Sherwood for all these rumours to some extent.
He made a big mistake in saying that he wouldn’t stop Benteke leaving if the right money came in without emphasising strongly enough that it would take “stupid” money to get him. In fact, he should have just put a £100 million price on his head or just simply said “he’s going nowhere and he isn’t for sale”.
Even though we know these statements are meaningless, it just sends the right message to the fans.
Then again, I’m very mindful that Benteke was probably offered something in return for signing a new contract and a promise that we would let him leave might just have been that something.
This makes even more sense when you consider that the player’s agent suddenly changed tack in his comments, almost as though he’d been appeased.
I have a sneaky feeling that this Chelsea rumour might just have something to it and the truth is, if Benteke’s going to go there, you couldn’t really blame him. Whilst I’d be gutted, he’d go with my best wishes.
But Villa have to ensure that they get serious top dollar money for him and I’m not talking £30 million.
And Lerner had better not trouser the proceeds.
The thought of Benteke leaving quite simply scares me.
Us being linked to Austin and Adebayor is all well and good. But give me Benteke any day.
I could easily see him being ranked amongst the likes of some of our other legendary strikers at the club, if he were to stay.
I can dream can’t I?
I’m not strictly suggesting that Benteke will leave in this window, but I think we have to accept that he will leave sooner rather than later, sadly.
If he is to go then I think Chelsea would be nailed on favourites to capture his signature. And your spot on about Lerner. I want the Benteke cash plus another 35 mil at least invested. What worries me more than anything else is the constant 30mil being mentioned. It tells me, unfortunately, that Fatty Faulkner probably had that buy out fee in his contract. If thats the case, its one of the biggest balls up ever. I wouldnt even start talking under 40 mil…..but if 30mil is in his contract we have been screwed over bigtime!
£30m is what city paid for Bony so it’s about right. They are about the same in terms of ability and similar players.
Would he go to Chelsea he would never be first choice unless costs injured
Agreed Langford, that £30 mill is worrying, given the flood of money available.
If Sterling is worth £40-50 mill, Benteke has to be worth ?????
I keep seeing 30mil being quoted….probably the agents way of telling the footballing world that he’s ‘cheap as chips’ and therefore should attract a very high salary. Thats the way I see it, if true, fatty Faulkner is a bigger plank than I thought!
Do I want Benteke to stay, I honestly don’t know. The only fact we know is that he has 2 years left on his contract. These are potential outcomes:
* Benteke is sold this summer and Villa squeeze the maximum amount out of the buyer, unless there is a buyout clause we are unaware of. If reinvested effectively and that is the big question, we could become a stronger team all round.
* Benteke stays one more year. If Villa win the FA Cup, then there is no reason why they could not have a decent run in Europe. This could raise the profile of the club and act as a pull factor in attracting quality European players to us. The down side is Benteke would only have one year left on his contract and his sell on fee reduces.
* Benteke sees out his two years and leaves on a free. His goal scoring record is such Villa should be a solid mid table outfit. Or with a couple of savvy additions to Delph / Grealish midfield, we might surprise the pundits.
* Villa stun us all and qualify for the champions league next year with Benteke still with us. At that point he declares his undying love for the club and signs a new 7 year contract.
I would value other fans thoughts.
Like I keep saying benteke will go but just a question of who 2. If Liverpool can’t hold onto their best payers we’ve no chance. Can’t blame benteke for going he will get at least double or treble what he gets with us and will play for a top 4 team guaranteed to be in CL. It’s a no brainier even I would leave Villa for that unless they were going to compete again but that will never happen for years if ever.
Yes you do and could you stop please. Yo are not adding any insight or added info. You have predicted he would leave every summer and every other January since he got here.
That’s not clever nor is it adding anything to discussion
Every player leaves everyone.
Stating that they will every year until they dogo does not make you right as you have claimed more times than you have claimed bentekes is gone.
It’s like you are predicting someone is going to die ….every year. Every year you get it wrong as the person is still alive, no one particularly wants to be reminded of it. Everyone is aware of it as we all will eventually croke it. But you are cashing in an I told you so chip way before it’s due for information everybody already knows
I wasn’t wrong about the past 2 seasons actually. The first season he wanted to go to Spurs but they were scared of by price and last season he was injured. I said last year he wouldn’t go last summer because of injury you don’t read my comment properly.
… I give up then
Throw enough shit and eventually something will stick.
Why must you constantly bang on that your are ‘right’?
Does your misses constantly hen-peck you and belittle your opinions or something?
Or are you just a massive wind up?
You’ve called it wrong every single season that Benteke has been with us, there is no way once he eventually leaves that you can claim you were ‘right’.
Unless Benteke spends the rest of his career with us then at some point, he will leave, obviously, why even bother to cling on to this one i’ll never know, but there is no way you can claim it once it happens.
You remind me of a really shit psychic asking if anybody has a relative called John.
I am right though he would of gone last year if he wasn’t injured and he will go in the summer UNLESS of course he gets crocked in the final
Well no you are not, in fact you are dead wrong, you said midway through his first season he’d be off in the summer (this was after labelling him the ‘new Heskey’) and he signed a contract extension, so from the beginning you were wrong, and you’ve been wrong about it ever since, just man up about it and move on, and stop claiming to be right all along, it’s boring.
But the intent to go was there just that Spurs didn’t bid. If they had he would go
Sherwood is just being honest. Contracts are worth shit nowadays. If the lad goes, it should be nearer the £40m mark if he stays in the Premier League. He’s proved he’s far from a one season wonder and has more discipline than Costa…But obviously I’d rather he stay and becomes a Villa legend!!!
But he’s entitled to leave at 30mil if thats the buy out clause. Too many people are quoting it for it not to be true IMO
Maybe if we all get his name tattooed on our faces, he’ll stay a bit longer…
By the way, did anyone know we’re in the FA Cup Final??????
i know everyone is saying benteke is to be sold, but these same web sites are saying that the new owners are coming after the fa cup,now what new owner would sanction a player of his worth leaving if he was sold before they took over, it would harm any deal in place even if there is a buy out clause, it is up to the payer to trigger it without any talks from possible new owners i dont think it can happen
Depends who new owners are just because we get new owners dosnt mean we will have any more ambition than we have now especially if it’s to a consortium.
Austin and Adebayor! Are you kidding me?! Both of them plus £50m and I still wouldn’t sell him!
had suarez not a buyout fee of 40m ,did aresnal not offer 40m plus 1 pound
pool didnt sell
Very good point JVillan
Yes, that’s a fair point JVillan, but they must have already had a better offer on the table, I’d have thought.
If a player has a buyout clause, you simply can’t stop him going, as it would be breach of contract, meaning he could walk for nothing.
But I’d assume the club can insist he goes to the club with the highest offer.
I quite like Charlie Austin, however I have a sneaky suspicion we’ll offer Benteke a new deal and he’ll sign it.
That’s a nice thought Kent, but we’d have to double the wages of any other Villa player, including any of the bomb squad, to match what’s reportedly on offer.
That simply isn’t going to happen, imo.
And even then, we still couldn’t compete when it comes to Silverware and worldwide recognition, which is probably just as important as the money, to him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking the Villa down at all.
I’ve said for ages that I believe Benteke will be world class.
Unfortunately that means he’s going to have to leave us behind at some stage, imo.
You’re right about all of that of course – It’s just a hunch – Maybe it’s because Delph signed up when everyone thought he’d be off. Maybe it’s because I’m in denial about the Liverpool links – I’d be absolutely gutted if Benteke went to Liverpool. Hopefully he’ll see the value of playing every week in the run up to the Euros.
I think he’s more likely to go to London if he can but you never know
The ball is in our court regarding Benteke. Two years left on his contract any team that wants him 50 mil. This is all paper talk, Sterling hit the papers over wanting to leave Lpool then Bentekes name pops up.
Exactly – There have been no quotes from anyone on this, other than Benteke taking about how much he’s enjoying his football under Sherwood. It’s lazy journalism by numbers as ever.
I don’t see the point in getting wound-up by these rumours.
Benteke will leave whenever he decides to go, whether that’s this summer, or next January, or the summer after that. Just like Yorke, Young, Millner and Downing did. Think further back – even Sir Ron sold Andy Gray to Wolves ffs!
The big question for me is how much of the eventual fee is given to the manager to find a replacement, and how good the scouting for that replacement will be.
For what it’s worth, no, I can’t see Benteke joining Liverpool either; they’re hardly any better than us. I believe he’ll only go to one of the CL clubs, although I reckon that a potential buyer might want to see whether he can play a whole season without major injury before they make their move.
Really not so worried about whether Benteke stays or goes although I’d love him to stay.
Its the total team we end up with at the start of next season and how well they play together. We might well find that (like Southampton) you can sell good players and buy just as good if not better.
More interested in what Tim’s team is going to look like as a whole rather than one player (even Benteke who I really rate).
UTV
Benteke to Pool is a nonstarter for me still. Their annoying “legends”, the ones insulting Sterling’s agent for doing his job and getting Sterling to where Sterling wants to be, claim he’d be a good signing, without having a clue that Benteke wouldn’t even fit Pool’s style. They’re 2nd lowest in crosses this season I believe, we’re one of the highest. Benteke wouldn’t suit the style.
Chelsea I think are the only Prem club that would get him. I think if he’ll leave it’ll be to Atletico to replace Mandzukic or Wolfsburg as he’s miles better than Dost. Either way, he has no buyout clause, his agent confirmed that when he signed the contract, so the 30m bs is that, bs.
Anyways, Benteke’s not irreplaceable. Hell, we had to find Benteke, no? Cost a total of 7m. Get probably 5x that transfer fee and be able to replace him with probably 2 quality strikers with cash left over.
The more important question is – WHY IS OUR LOCAL PAPER CONTINUALLY PRINTING REPORTS ON OUR STAR PLAYER LEAVING, JUST BEFORE OUR MOST IMPORTANT GAME FOR YEARS – THE BIRMINGHAM MAIL IS A DISGRACE !!!
Saddened, I don’t buy papers purely because reporters need to make news and editors have to sell , season finishing agents need to get their ten % players beening bullied to push for more money and clubs need to find new players, its all tripe to me, I agree that the Birmingham rag is just as bad as all the media papers, I don’t think Benteke is pushing for a move, its shite people trying to make money, Villa have a player to build around I think Sherwood will do all he can to keep, all this idiotic 30-50 million is guess work and to me damaging to Aston Villa, let’s hope we have a new owner first and what’s he’s going to put into the club? In our day and age hard to find a owner that’s genuine fan of any club.utv.
I agree Bill, and surely their responsibility as a local rag is to try and bring some success to the area, and concentrate on the positives and helping Villa win the Final – not destabilise our best player….. Just lazy and irresponsible journalism I think
Remember that the “Birmingham Mail” is not really ‘local’ any more!
Stopped being that years ago.
It’s owned by the same group as the Mirror, who as we can see from yesterday’s main UK headlines, are hardly better than Rupert’s Rags…
Correct Saddened, its why I just laugh it off, Oohah could help if he’d stop saying he’s going, (yes when he wants to ) Benteke don’t need to be told, they all will go at one stage.
Not true gabbys still here and Gerard was a one club man albeit by default
Both players brought up by the academy and not bought from overseas.
Totally crap argument.
I doubt that there is a buyout clause that Pool could trigger. I guess it triggers for anyone had Villa gone down, but only to a club with a CL place otherwise. Chelsea would be a good fit. Liverpool are a club in turmoil, Rogers is a miserable git, who got lucky with Suarez and then did not fight to keep him. Gerrard has gone and with him the glue.
I still think Benteke has more sense than to go to a club where he is bench warming until the last 30 mins. The Milner story is a good example he turned down 165k a week (!) to continue as City’s dogsbody in favour of half that and a starting place.
How can Milner possibly survive on just £80k a week?
The sacrifices these players make…
Fair play to Milner though yes he gets obscene wages but he could get a lot more if he wanted. A proper footballer that actually wants to play week in wk out I respect that.
But he only starts half the games but is a regular sub when not starting and plays all the big games, City really want to keep him. Proving by the huge wages. Going to Pool means he starts twice as many games as he’s better than any midfielder they have. Definitely wants to play.
Agree. Would love to get Milner bk at villa a true pro
Off topic but do ye think of the Irish lions jersey? (Aston villa supporters club)
http://astonvilla.ie/irish-lions-jersey/?utm_source=AVFC+Irish+Lions+Club+Membership&utm_campaign=ed42a9676f-burnley&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d780bf15b6-ed42a9676f-340186793
Gets the thumbs up from me. Am Irish but not involved with the Lions club always meant to get in touch with them. I might just by one.
Buy cant spell
I’m not Irish but it’s now top on my shopping list luvit.
Cheer’s Colonius 81 ordering two, nice shirt and be there in August with luck.
nice one colonius am irish and will for sure be getting that nice shirt