West Ham United are reportedly interested in signing Liverpool striker Christian Benteke to spearhead their attack next season.
According to The Times, West Ham are planning to sign up to five players for next season, and Benteke features on top of Slaven Bilic’s wish list.
Benteke was the second most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history when he joined from Aston Villa for a reported fee of £32.5m (for which he had no control over the price tag) last summer.
He came with a lot of promise and a good goal scoring record behind him, but the Belgian striker has struggled to adapt to a different style of football under Jurgen Klopp, and has started in two of Liverpool’s past 12 games.
He was left out Liverpool side that won 2-0 against Manchester United in the first leg of the Europa last 16 tie at Anfield, and his future has come under intense speculation.
Although Benteke has stated his desire to stay at Liverpool and fight for his places, it doesn’t seem like he features in the long term plans of the former Dortmund manager.
West Ham are unlikely to be willing to pay more than £80,000-per-week for the striker, and Liverpool may need to contribute towards paying his £120,000-per-week wages.
Benteke is a good player but he is not suited to Liverpool’s style of football. And, there’s no point in sticking with him especially when he is turning out to be a square peg in a round hole for Klopp’s system.
Furthermore, Benteke has dropped down the pecking orders at the club behind Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi. Klopp has used Roberto Firmino in the false #9 role ahead of the Belgian, which shows the manager hardly has any faith in the striker. And his game time will be further limited when Danny Ings returns from injury.
The Belgian obviously would be disappointed with his failure to make an impact at a big club, but he should grab this opportunity of moving to West Ham. He would get regular games under Bilic, which in turn would increase his chances of playing for the Belgian national team.
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