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Christian Benteke has been strongly connected with a move to West Ham United, not so strongly connected with a move to Chelsea, and now he finds himself linked with a move to a third London club. Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew is allegedly "interested" in Benteke, according to the Telegraph, providing Benteke with yet another option in the event that he chooses to leave Liverpool FC.
But Liverpool management aren't letting him go without a half-hearted fight. Having paid £32.5 million for the player just last summer, Liverpool are said to not be interested in selling Benteke for anything less than £30 million. In the new reality of Premier League TV money and inflated transfer prices -- a world in which Watford turned down £30 million for Troy Deeney -- Liverpool's minimum for Benteke suddenly sounds like a very cut rate price for any club wanting to beef up their fire power ahead of next season.
Whether Benteke wants to go to Crystal Palace after only a season spent on Merseyside remains to be seen. He's alternately talked about fighting for his place and being dissatisfied with his current lot in life, but it seems very clear that if he wants meaningful minutes he'll have to move elsewhere. Benteke is currently behind Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, and Danny Ings in the depth chart, and with Roberto Firmino offering a fourth option up top for Jürgen Klopp, minutes will be hard to come by for the former Aston Villa man.
Benteke is still on Euro duty with Belgium, but with the transfer window opening on Friday and the tournament quickly coming to a close, the futures of Liverpool's internationals will become solidified sooner rather than later. Christian Benteke will be amongst them one way or another, but whether Liverpool have £30 million in their war chest because of it remains to be seen.