Christian Benteke has been linked with so many clubs since he joined Liverpool that it can be dizzying at times. The Belgium international had been a hero at Aston Villa but has so far been unable to replicate that status at Anfield, seeming at times to be a square peg in a round hole.
A week ago Spanish newspaper Sport claimed Atletico Madrid had decided Benteke was the man for them, and there’d been talks already, with an agreement possible before the end of Euro 2016.
Speaking to Sport Witness, the player’s agent, Kismet Eris, refuted Sport’s claims and said there was “nothing at all with any team” at this moment in time, and when asked if we could at this stage expect Christian Benteke to stay at Liverpool for the 2016-17 season, his answer was a simple “yes”.
Things change very quickly. Belgium’s Euro 2016 ended much sooner than many thought, with defeat to Wales on Friday night. And Crystal Palace claims have been building quickly since then.
Belgium newspaper HLN today claims that Liverpool and Crystal Palace were last night in talks over a transfer. Not only that, Palace are said to be in advanced talks with the player himself.
However, Belgian freelance journalist Sven Claes couldn’t have been much clearer on Monday evening, when he tweeted:
Sources close to @chrisbenteke tell me this is bullshit. #LFC https://t.co/ZAR4CXA4r7
— Sven Claes (@svenclaes) July 4, 2016
Time will of course tell, and it’s unclear exactly which part of the claim Claes believes is bull****.
