Crystal Palace will sell Christian Benteke for a cut-price £8 million as they look to fund a deal for Watford winger Ismaila Sarr, according to the Mail.
We are fully expecting your response to such a headline is something along the lines of; ‘£8 million too much’.
With six goals in his last 69 Premier League appearances, stretching as far back as the start of 2017/18, you would be right in suggesting that Benteke is a pale shadow of the man who scored for fun at Aston Villa and set Palace back a cool £27 million not so long ago.
The Belgium international has gone from the star of Selhurst Park to an overpriced, overpaid and underperforming member of Roy Hodgson’s stuttering frontline.
According to the Mail, Crystal Palace would jump at the chance to sell Benteke for a near £20 million loss as they look to finance a bid for one of the most exciting young forwards in English football.
Sarr, a winger blessed with explosive pace and impressive end product given his age, was the standout player in a Watford team who were relegated on the final day of the campaign.
As backed up by The Sun (9 August, page 60) Watford are still demanding a staggering £40 million and, given that Palace are hardly one of the Premier League’s richest clubs, Hodgson, Dougie Freedman and Steve Parish will have to get a little creative.
But, as Watford fans will no doubt chime in, raising £8 million through Benteke’s sale would get you, what, Sarr’s left leg at best?
The former Rennes star produced five goals and four assists last season, including that famous brace in a 3-0 thumping of Liverpool.
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