I think it's the best we can hope to get for him in a business sense. I feel we would need someone in, or to keep Mateta. I'm not 100% convinced about Mateta. Then there is the possibility of Nketiah, who I'm also not sure about. I don't highly rate Benteke either, he has the odd game but has a lot of poor finishes I've found hard to forgive. Missing the amount of gilt edges chances he does, would seem to be quite a hard skill to master. He is the living embodiment of the old saying "easier to score than miss".

Red and Blue Army!

I think this one probably boils down to whether Benteke himself can be persuaded to move. Reading the Burnley forums, there doesn't seem much doubt that a). the club is in for him, and b). while they're sanguine about what they're getting, £13 million + Benteke is a pretty good return for Chris Wood. Plus, if you were at Burnley in November, you'll know he probably impressed them with his best game in a while. For Burnley, it's probably a pretty good buy as they'll play to his strengths, bang crosses into the box for him all day, and I wouldn't be surprised if Benteke did well there. He won't score fewer than Chris Wood with the service he'll get.

For me, I don't think Benteke has been that bad this season even if he's not the long term answer (or if he is, we're asking the wrong question). If he saw out his contract here, not the end of the world but if we can get anywhere around £10 million for him, now we're pretty much safe, I'd take it in a second. The jury, for me, is still out on Mateta but he's looked a closer to at least a short-term answer than he has until now. I don't think giving him Benteke's minutes for the rest of the season will hurt us though we'll need another striker in the squad.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

I would give 200 euros to a charity of his choice if he takes the offer

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

Wot, another Benteke thread? More than he deserves.

Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.

About time this thread was merged with the other Benteke thread.

I didn't say I did and I didn't realise to put some rough ideas of numbers up on here you had to be the clubs accountant?

I don't know exactly what he earns but it was reported at the time he re-signed his contract that it was £100-120k pw, hence, my 'budget of about'. If he was on £100k pw it's roughly £38m and if he's £120k pw it's £43m.

If he's on much less, which I'd be surprised about, say £80k pw it's around a £32m budget. These are all just estimates to encourage some debate over what is best to do and if we did sell him what the kind of replacement numbers we could look at, otherwise it's easy to look at it as £10m in we can only spend £10m on a replacement or it goes the other way and someone suggest Haaland.

There are loads of other things to factor in too, for example if we sold him for £12m you'd probably lose £2m straight away in loyalty bonus and Premier League fees.

However, as it's just a pretty relaxed general transfer forum, I thought it was easier to just round up numbers and not have to caveat it out as if Dougie was going to use this to base his decisions off of.