Spurs set to offer players as part of Benteke deal?

Aston Villa want £25m for Christian Beneteke. Tottenham Hotspur believe that, because the striker has made it clear he wants to leave Villa, they can play hardball in negotiations. According to The Sun -- so take this with more than a few grains of salt -- Spurs think they can get away with paying £20m and then adding a player to make a difference.

The players Tottenham supposedly have on offer? Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Scott Parker, Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone. Pardon me, Daniel Levy, but have you been introduced to Paul Lambert? Does any one of those players (with the possible exception of Livermore) seem like someone he'd be willing to take off your hands? Perhaps in the days of Martin O'Neill, such a move could've been forced through. But Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner have learned from their £8m waste-of-space known as Stephen Ireland.

Listen up, Spurs. Lambert left Villa's most expensive player on the bench for most of last season. He has no issue with shutting out players that earn hundreds of thousands of pounds each year. Benteke is young, makes relatively low wages and has had one good season. In a league that routinely pays through the nose for average forwards with "Premier League Experience", Villa are not going to accept one of your rejects as makeweight in this deal.*

*please dear god let this be a true statement