West Ham are interested in signing Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke, according to SkySports.com.
The former Aston Villa player scored 17 goals in 40 appearances following his £32.5million move from Liverpool last summer. He is currently on international duty with Belgium where he revealed to Sky Sports that he is happy to remain with Palace despite manager Sam Allardyce’s surprise departure from the club at the end of the season:
“It was a surprise for me. I was on holiday when I heard. He’s a big man, he knows what he’s doing. I’m still happy because I am playing the way I want to play and the last few weeks the team did well.”
Benteke would be a significant outlay for West Ham if they did try to sign the 26 year old this summer. Manager Slaven Bilic certainly looks to be leaving no stone unturned in his search to strengthen Hammers’ forward line with a reported £20m bid for Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, and continued interest in Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi.
Benteke’s Belgian team mate also revealed on international duty that he won’t stay with the Blues for long if he continues to have limited game time:
“Everyone knows that I have to play more, that I have to score goals. There’s a World Cup coming up next year. I want to be ready for the World Cup. But I’m not going to ask anything. I’m going to listen to what they are saying. They are the boss, not me. And afterwards I’ll discuss it with my agent and the club. Amicably, as friends of course.”
