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Crystal Palace have already made two summer signings thus far, and Aland Pardew is not done yet. The Palace manager is looking ahead to a big summer as he tried to make his squad a real force going into next season, we take a look at two done deals and two bids made.
1) Cristian Benteke
According to several reliable sources, Crystal Palace has made a formal bid for Liverpool striker Christian Benteke.
After a busy start to the transfer window, Palace now look set to sign a striker and have tabled a £25 million bid for the Belgian forward.
The 25-year-old striker, who was in France representing Belgium in the Euro 2016 has fallen out of favor with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and has been far down in the pecking order since his arrival last October.
The forward only joined Liverpool last July signing for a hefty £32.5 million, but the forward has not lived up to his billing and has scored just 10 league goals in that time.
Palace first surfaced their interest in Benteke in January, and has since returned with a bid of around £25 million having lost out on the pursuit of his compatriot Michy Batshuayi, who has joined Chelsea from Marseille for £33.2 million.
Liverpool value Benteke at £30 million and will want to recoup the massive fee they paid last summer, Palace has returned with a bid £5 million under there valuation with the opening bid expected to be rejected. Talks will continue between the clubs as they look to compromise a fee with Palace said to be very confident, Benteke has also attracted interest from West Ham but Palace looks the more likely destination after taking a step forward in their pursuit for the player.
Benteke has not hit the heights Liverpool were hoping for considering the price they paid he did little to repay the faith but it is not surprising Crystal Palace are looking at the striker. In a bad season for Benteke, he still managed 0.53 goals per 90 minutes. Benteke has also impressed with the amount of chances he has created with a very positive score 1.77. This will appease the interested boss Alan Pardew. Benteke hasn’t done badly in his total attack score with 26.84 which is actually better than average.
On the plus side for Palace fans, personal terms will should prove to be an issue in the deal, with the striker eager to make the move to revive his career.
