Crystal Palace
Belgian international striker Christian Benteke became Crystal Palace's record signing on Saturday as the Premier League club paid £27 million (Dh130m) with add-ons to end his unhappy spell at rivals Liverpool.
The 25-year-old – who cost Liverpool £32.5 million when he joined from Aston Villa last year but fell out of favour with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp when he replaced Brendan Rodgers – said he was looking forward to moving on.
“I’m very happy to commit my future to Crystal Palace and I’m looking forward to meeting the manager, the players and the staff,” Benteke told Palace’s official website.
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“I feel really happy that the deal has been done and now I can look forward,” added Benteke, who has accrued 51 goals in four Premier League campaigns.
Palace manager Alan Pardew, who had had an earlier bid for the DR Congo-born striker turned down, had said on Friday how appreciative he was of his board sanctioning such a huge fee.
Benteke's fee is over double the previous record fee paid by Palace, England international winger Andros Townsend moving from Newcastle in July for £13 million.
“It’s important when you lose iconic players to try and replace them with iconic players,” said Pardew.
“We’ve lost two this week, Mile Jedinak (left for Championship side Aston Villa) and Yala Bolasie (signed by rivals Everton).
“Both were massive figures at this club and we will need to replace them with big figures,” he added.
“That’s something that didn’t always happen at (former club) Newcastle, unfortunately, so I’m pleased the board have been brave with this move.”
Pardew, who will be relieved to have finally got his man as he had been left with just one fit striker in Connor Wickham, said he had tried to lure Benteke to Newcastle from his first English club Aston Villa.
“He’s someone I know very, very well because I wanted to take him to Newcastle,” said Pardew.
“I thought he’d be a fantastic fit for that club. He got the move to Liverpool and it hasn’t quite worked out.
“For us, we need to get him back to doing what he does best. His style of play, the way he feeds off crosses...
“He’ll enjoy that with the wide players we have.”
Everton
Everton striker Romelu Lukaku has withdrawn his request for a transfer and committed his future to Everton, manager Ronald Koeman said on Saturday.
The Belgian international, 23, had asked for a move away from the Premier League outfit but this week changed his mind and is now back in training, Koeman wrote in his column in the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.
“Ten days before the transfer deadline he came into the manager’s office and said he was no longer leaving and had decide to stay at Everton,” wrote Koeman.
“His decision is the same value as a big money transfer. He is not only a good player but a fine person. He lives his football in the fashion that you would want a top footballer to.
“It is great to work with him and I think he had seen that we want to engineer improvement at every corner. To develop him into a really top player is the challenge before me.”
Lukaku has scored 43 goals in 104 Everton appearances but had been linked with a return to Chelsea in recent months.
*Reuters
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