Report: Liverpool will complete £32.5 million Benteke transfer this week

Liverpool are set to shell out £32.5 million to trigger Christian Benteke's buyout clause by week's end if a report in the Express is to be believed. But before Villa fans begin to panic, it's worth keeping a few things in mind.

The first is the fact that the report itself is pretty unsubstantiated. As these things go, it may be better than most because it comes with a byline, but aside from that there is nothing here to make it seem like anything has changed from the past few days when it only seemed as if Brendan Rodgers was keeping tabs on Benteke. Aside from a cursory opening sentence, the report contains no new information whatsoever and deals mostly with Benteke's stats and Liverpool's already-completed moves this summer. There's no reason to believe there's much credibility here.

But let's, for a moment, buy it. Maybe Neil Fissler knows something that no other football journalist in England knows. Okay. Even then, this isn't a terrible thing. Yes, Benteke is a linchpin to the Villa attack. But this is a club with numerous needs and £32.5 million would go a long ways towards addressing them. Maybe it could be used to sweeten the pot for Dennis Praet. Maybe £15 million can be spent on another striker to replace Benteke. It's not hard to see £10 million each going to a new midfielder, striker, and left back and leaving Villa vastly improved even with the loss of Benteke.

So no, I don't believe this rumour. But there is a part of me that wants to believe it. I love Benteke and I love everything that he's done for Villa. But if he can bring in more than thirty million pounds it may be the best thing he ever does for the club. And the good news is that if this report is false, hey: we still have Christian Benteke. It's not a terrible position to be in.