Christian Benteke (Chelsea/Crystal Palace/Sunderland)

Chelsea may switch sights to Benteke

by Matt Hughes, The Times



Chelsea are pursuing Christian Benteke as an alternative signing should they fail to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge this summer.

The Everton striker remains Antonio Conte’s first-choice target as he attempts to add firepower to a squad that has been overly reliant on Diego Costa, whose future at Chelsea is uncertain amid interest from Atletico Madrid, his former club.

Lukaku is open to returning to the club who sold him to Everton for £28 million two years ago despite being given only one Premier League start during his three-year spell in west London, but Chelsea face stiff competition

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/article4750680.ece

Can see Chavs selling Costa so they'll probably be in the hunt for two strikers.

I say make them pay more than we did. If they really want him then 35-40m

Maybe we could do a swap deal? Give them Benteke and take theirs best crossers.

Maybe we could do swap deal? Give them Benteke and take theirs best crossers.

Would be about right 😁

Just get our outlay back and consider it a near miss.

Our record in the 30+mill spending bracket is not good - understatement. REALLY need to do better when we do 'splash' cash.
Not confident we can get 30+mill for Benteke, given we need to offload him. But at least there is some interest.

£24m & costa. 

I'd take £24m and leave Costa where he is, he's 10 times as sly as Suarez with 10 times less talent.

I'd take £24m and leave Costa where he is, he's 10 times as sly as Suarez with 10 times less talent.

Luis wasnt sly he was clever:) A million times the player elephant man is

Get most of our money back and he's all yours, Conte and cu*ts.

Straight swop for Hazard..job done


YNWA

Straight swop for Hazard..job done


YNWA

Would rather have Willian as his work rate would be a perfect fit for Klopp's tactics.

Straight swop for Hazard..job done


YNWA

Rather not based on last season.

Would really be surprised if they are in for Benteke. Could see him being loaned to West Brom, or back to Villa (might not be willing to go to a Championship side) or a team of that stature.

If we do sell, can't expect recoup even half of the cost we paid for him, but keeping him even on the wage book is throwing bad money after bad money.

But we can probably sell him for around 10 million. He seemed to maintain a decent attitude in the face of adversity (his comments while away with Belgium were not really that bad), so it's not as if nobody would want him. But we just blew it with the price we paid, and getting something close to that for a resale is not realistic.

Would really be surprised if they are in for Benteke. Could see him being loaned to West Brom, or back to Villa (might not be willing to go to a Championship side) or a team of that stature.

If we do sell, can't expect recoup even half of the cost we paid for him, but keeping him even on the wage book is throwing bad money after bad money.

But we can probably sell him for around 10 million. He seemed to maintain a decent attitude in the face of adversity (his comments while away with Belgium were not really that bad), so it's not as if nobody would want him. But we just blew it with the price we paid, and getting something close to that for a resale is not realistic.

10 million?

 

I know by making it so painfully obvious he doesn't feature in our plans that we've probably diminished the money we'll get, but my guess is if we put him up for 10 million quid we'd get some interest alright.

Would really be surprised if they are in for Benteke. Could see him being loaned to West Brom, or back to Villa (might not be willing to go to a Championship side) or a team of that stature.

If we do sell, can't expect recoup even half of the cost we paid for him, but keeping him even on the wage book is throwing bad money after bad money.

But we can probably sell him for around 10 million. He seemed to maintain a decent attitude in the face of adversity (his comments while away with Belgium were not really that bad), so it's not as if nobody would want him. But we just blew it with the price we paid, and getting something close to that for a resale is not realistic.

Triple that 10m and we'll still get an offer from Chelsea.

He's a decent player in a team that suits him. Just not us!

Maybe we could do a swap deal? Give them Benteke and take theirs best crossers.

sounds plausible

I was taking the piss but that's bad shopping that Daz, take the 24m and the zombie and sell the zombie on.

Even as an extra on the walking dead we'd get a few grand.

 

Here's hoping Big Ben storms the Euros so we can get a few quid for him in the summer.

Here's hoping Big Ben storms the Euros so we can get a few quid for him in the summer.

I think we'll end up getting plenty of interest in Benteke. He's a good striker in a team that fits him, he's a proven goalscorer in the prem, and he's still reasonably young, so we will get around about our money back on him.

I'll be shocked if he ends up at Chelsea.

He has West Brom written all over him. Tony Pulis probably has a Benteke poster above his bed next to his rory delap one.

I'll be shocked if he ends up at Chelsea.

He has West Brom written all over him. Tony Pulis probably has a Benteke poster above his bed next to his rory delap one.

The fact that they refused to sell Berahino for 20-25m, kept him on the bench for most of the season and will now be lucky to get about 10m for him shows how poorly they do business. Let's charge them 100m