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Crystal Palace cleared plenty of deadwood out in January, with Jason Puncheon, Jonny Williams and Jordon Mutch all shown the door; others survived the winter clearout but could be sold this summer as the Eagles look to improve the overall quality of the squad and Christian Benteke could be the first casualty.
The big Belgian was subject to a £15m bid from Chinese outfit Shandong Luneng Taisan this week – presumably the big wigs in the east haven’t been paying too much attention to his performances in the past couple of seasons, in which he has chalked up just four goals.
Alan Pardew brought the 28-year-old to Selhurst Park in 2016 for a then-club-record fee of £27m and the player repaid that sum in his first season in red and blue, scoring 17 goals across all competitions, but he managed just three in 2017/18 and only one in 2018/19 – a shocking return.
Most fans surely feel that it’s time to cash in on the £130,000-a-week flop, but what do Football FanCast’s writers think? Check out their verdicts below…
Billy Meyers
“For Palace to make roughly half of their money back on Benteke and get his reported £130,000-a-week wages off the books would be a complete and utter dream; Steve Parish shouldn’t think twice about accepting this fantastic offer. The Belgian gives his all for the club, but his goal return and injury history means he must be got rid of.”
Should Crystal Palace keep hold of Max Meyer this summer? Harvey Jones discusses in the video below…
Luke Glanville
“Crystal Palace should snap the hand off any club willing to pay money for Christian Benteke this summer. If Roy Hodgson’s men are going to progress, they must get rid of their seemingly-endless list of strikers who just don’t score goals anymore. The big Belgian has a mere four strikes in all competitions in the last two seasons – simply not good enough. The money they gain from the 28-year-old flop could perhaps be reinvested into trying to keep Michy Batshuayi.”
Ben Goodwin
“Palace should take the money and run. The 28 year-old has scored just one and three top flight goals in his last two seasons respectively, despite making 47 appearances in that time. If it weren’t for the fact that both Liverpool and the Eagles overpaid for the Belgian in the first place, no one would even think twice about selling a striker with those numbers.”