Liverpool may be considering preposterous bid for Benteke

According to a report in the Star, Liverpool are possibly considering a £15 million bid for Aston Villa star striker Christian Benteke. Let's get this out of the way quickly: the bid probably isn't going to happen and if it does Aston Villa will probably say no. I don't trust the Star any further than I can throw them (and I can't even get a copy here, so my throwing distance is minimal), so I was ready to let this pass by, but the rumour seemed to be getting some traction online. Might as well take a moment to explain why it makes no sense whatsoever.

First off is the way the Star reported this whole thing. "[Brendan] Rodgers is understood to be considering launching a £15m bid for Benteke," they wrote. What do you notice about that sentence? Like so many in the transfer window, it's entirely, 100% unverifiable. Understood by whom? Considering launching? So he has had the thought of maybe doing this. Great. I bet every manager in the Premier League has at least considered launching a bid for Christian Benteke. If this comes to nothing, the Star can just point to this sentence and say "Well yeah, but we never said it would happen." This is pretty standard fare in the transfer window, so the Star aren't exactly despicable here.

As for the football side of things, this makes no sense to Aston Villa. £15 million is less than Aston Villa paid for Darren Bent when they acquired him. Villa don't have the money of a club like Liverpool, nor do they have any incentive to sell Benteke (in fact, given how bad they've been at scoring, there is a huge disinecntive). So why would they part with a valuable player for less than they bought a less-valuable player when they don't need to make the move?

If Liverpool offered £20 million, I might see it happening. More than that, and Villa would really have to think. Liverpool do need some help up front, and they can afford to pay for it. This rumour has two levels of wrong to it that mean you can probably not worry about Brendan Rodgers swooping in for Christian Benteke.