Spurs Transfer News: Christian Benteke Opening Bid Coming This Week?
Mirror. Benteke wants to quit the club this summer and has handed in a transfer request, with White Hart Lane his next likely destination. Villa manager Paul Lambert has reluctantly resigned himself to losing the 22-year-old, whose 19 goals last season made him the Premier League's fourth-highest goalscorer. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is trying to convince the Midlands club to reduce their £25 million valuation of the Belgian international, but Villa are holding out for the full amount. Lambert is determined Benteke will not harm squad unity while Villa are hoping for a swift end to the transfer saga. The starlet has not travelled with the rest of the team for their pre-season tour of Germany and has been ordered to stay away from the club until Thursday this week. Speaking in Germany, Lambert said:
You try to create the same things you had last season that feeling of everyone in it together. You do that and it takes you a long way. I dont mind where you get the goals from, you just have to keep trying to function as a team.Villa only signed Benteke from Genk last summer, and the striker has been a revelation since. In his debut season in England, he netted 23 times in 39 overall appearances and was nominated for The Professional Footballers' Association's Young Player of the Year award, losing out to Gareth Bale.