Christian Benteke to Liverpool betting suspended by Sky Bet
Friday 17 July 2015 08:21, UK
Sky Bet have suspended their market on Christian Benteke's next club after Liverpool were backed at as short as 1/10 to sign the Aston Villa striker.
Reports emerged in the Birmingham Mail that Liverpool have triggered the £32.5m release clause in the Belgian's contract and bookmakers have stopped taking bets on him moving to Anfield.
Manchester United had been favourites to sign Benteke with Sky Bet but it now appears he could be heading to their bitter rivals, who are likely to be without Daniel Sturridge until September while the England forward recovers from hip surgery.
Liverpool have already acquired Danny Ings from Burnley and manager Brendan Rodgers also has Divock Origi, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini as alternatives up front.
Chief executive Ian Ayre is currently in Brisbane with Rodgers and his squad for the second leg of their pre-season tour but is expected to handle negotiations with Villa for the purchase of the 24-year-old.
Benteke's arrival would push Liverpool's summer spending to around £80m despite Rodgers' insistence 12 months ago, after an outlay of £110m, that there would not be a huge amount of recruitment to follow.
Earlier this week, Villa boss Tim Sherwood said he wanted to keep the striker, but admitted the club were powerless if a bid of £32.5m was received.
He told told Sky Sports News HQ: “If someone matches that buy-out clause there is nothing we can do about it but until that happens he is an Aston Villa player and we are all very pleased about that.
“I think Liverpool – I looked the other day – have six or seven strikers at the club. Now I’m not sure how many they actually need. We know Christian is a very good player and we want to keep hold of him."
