Benteke Rumours

Both as silly as the other but these are the two I have read

Firstly, Villa are looking to sign Bentner on a free and then sell us benteke. Sounds more something Cashley would do to us. I'd feel sympathy for the Villa fans for about a second if that did happen.

The other rumour is we have put an offer between 10.5-12M for benteke including both Gabriel Obertan and Marveux.

For me thats the better of the two options. We get two unused players salaries off our books and a beast of a striker when fit.

Both are as unrealistic as the other, but thought I'd share what I'd heard

 

He would cost too much mate. I know villa are in dire financial straits but they would want 15 -20 million for him. Also he is out injured till at least october. We need strikers now, not 3 months into the season. I also think he would want to go to a bigger club than us.

 

I think the rumours are rubbish, but for three months we possibly have sufficient cover with the new boy coming in from Monaco (wont attempt spelling) Cisse and Armstrong, plus De Jong if need be. I would be happy to wait for him to get fit if it was at a discounted price.

 

would love to see him here but just can't see it happening.
If we got rid of Obertan AND Marv and signed this lad I'd literally get completely naked in Fenwicks window,

 

Same as ACS for me. Signing him would simply cap off our best transfer window in years. It would also send out a real statement to our current squad that we do have ambition beyond finishing in the top half.

Sadly, I can say with near certainty that this deal will not happen.

 

We need a 1st choice striker come August mate. October is the earliest for Benteke, it could easily be later than that. I honestly don't think we can rely on the current three you mentioned until then. It would be an incredible risk.

 

Apparently the first choice striker we are targetting is Lacazette with two others who have played in France before as fallback options. PEA and Remy probably. Better not be a Gignac in sight.

 

He'd cost way too much and had a **** season. I'd rather spend that amount of money on Carroll.

 

Seriously? Personally I rate Benteke higher than Carroll. But I would be happy with either to be fair.

 

I'll admit it's unlikely this one given our normal reluctance to pay anything north of £10m for a player, but it makes an awful lot of sense.

The guy's a young and coveted international, on manageable wages, but he's injured – so if we fancy him as a target we have a clear shot where most other clubs might be steering clear.
His injury also means he's a dead asset for a club who could be struggling for PL survival by the time he's back in meaningful action. He's also Villa's most sale-able asset by a mile.

If NUFC went to them and offered the rumored £12.7m and UP FRONT they would be insane not to bite their hands off.
If Lerner (an owner who wants out) wanted to bank it and cream the interest he could, or more likely hand it back for funding Villa's signings this summer. Boy, like us do they need them – all over the pitch.

The bigger question is would we gamble and be happy with a guy although proven in PL, could be injury prone and definitely dipped last season?

He's certainly up the regime's street in terms of age and future value, especially if he really continues to kick on. It's an opportunistic time if they really did want him, that's all I'm saying...

 

I agree with pretty much everything you say here. I think Benteke would be an ideal signing and a quite feasible one at that, considering the circumstances. The highlighted bit is my greatest concern with the potential signing. Unlikely to happen if we do sign him, but I would definitely want another striker to go with Benteke, Riviere & Cisse. I really believe we will need another senior striker for the first couple months of the season, as it's going to be a real settling in period for allot of our first team squad. Expecting Perez and Armstrong to be able to step up so early in a fledgling side is too much to ask - if things went badly, it could really affect their development. Throw in the fact that Cisse is unlikely to start the season, and it would be down to Riviere to lead the line.

Would Ashley sanction his biggest purchase to date on a player that may not play until October/November and be willing to buy another to compensate for those first few months?

 

I agree, that's my point too. However what we know is he can be partial to a gamble IF the odds are stacked in a way where he could win big, business-wise.

Now if the club have liked him for a while and see a chance to take advantage of a situation to get their man, I could see it.

There's heavy banter between NUFC and Villa fans on Twitter about it, winding each other up. But many Villa fans are saying no chance, why etc etc and it'll take £25m+ but I don't agree.
£13m in one go to a club that really is on the ropes a bit, seems feasible to me.

Everyone's saying he has a release clause closer to £20m BUT release clauses are only any good to clubs who don't want to sell. If they need to sell to buy then compromise is likely.

Now I'm not saying I necessarily want him, the club want him or I believe it's happening – I'm just thinking it's not as daft as some are writing it off as!

Oh yeah and before these few weeks I would have wondered if NUFC are showing enough ambition for the coming season to tempt a player like Benteke.
Compared to the prospect of staying at Villa I think he'd want in within a heartbeat. Only CL club I could see rivaling would be Liverpool, but they could be stumping up for our other target, Lacazette.

 

I agree that Ashley does like to gamble and he also likes to take advantage of situations - Dave Whelan & JJB can attest to this. That could be the most motivating factor for Ashley, regarding any possible deal for Benteke. As you said, a bid of around £13M paid up front could be too good to turn down, considering Villas current state of flux.

I'm guessing the gamble would include no further signings up front?

Would you be on board with such a gamble?

 

For the record, I reckon Benteke would make a great signing and I also think it is more feasible than perhaps first thought. At the same time, I think it's highly unlikely.

 

According to Sky journo Graham Bailey and The Journal/Chronicle the main striker signing we are actively working on is 'foreign based', which would rule out Benteke if true. The main two rumours are Lacazette and Aubameyang. They both have to be considered unlikely but either would be fantastic. Let's hope there is no smoke without fire.

 

If PEA comes in, I would be absolutely gobsmacked. He's league-challenging quality, and you'd have to hope we'd come into the season with a stated ambition of at least top 4.

As far as I'm concerned, we're sorted for FBs and midfield, could do with another CB and definitely need another forward, but you'd have to say the quality in the club has already jumped by an order of magnitude. PEA would make us a force to be reckoned with.

 

Agreed.

 

Can't see us getting Benteke. Fantastic player though, better than Lukaku for me

 

Isn't Carroll exactly the same?

Would cost too much, had a **** season and always injured?

 

No chance with Benteke. I'd love him here even if we had to wait for him to be fit but just so unlikely.