Liverpool ready to bid £32.5m to snare Christian Benteke
Manager Brendan Rodgers made the Belgium international his primary target to strengthen his forward line at the end of last season but for a long time the club were reluctant to meet the figure needed to spark a move.
Villa were adamant they would not budge on the clause but, after selling Raheem Sterling to Manchester City in a £49m (€70m) deal this week, Liverpool have now relented and will make their approach to the midlanders.
Chief executive Ian Ayre is currently in Brisbane with Rodgers and his squad for the second leg of their pre-season tour but will still handle negotiations with Villa for the purchase of the 24-year-old.
Rodgers has been keen to add some strength to his attacking options but also wants a frontline striker who can withstand the rigours of the Premier League.
England international Daniel Sturridge made just 18 appearances last season after missing virtually the first five months of the season with injury.
He is likely to be sidelined until at least September after undergoing surgery on a hip problem which prematurely ended his campaign in April.
That would have left Rodgers with youngster Divock Origi, playing his first season in English football after spending last season on loan at Lille, and summer signing from Burnley Danny Ings as his two choices, having decided Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini are all surplus to requirements.
The club have invested heavily in Hoffenheim’s Brazil international Roberto Firmino, who could cost them up to £29m (€41.6m), but he is not an out-and-out forward, so Rodgers needed to recruit someone else to play as his spearhead. That someone, Rodgers has decided, is Benteke.
Meanwhile, Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal is close to leaving the Turin club to join Bayern Munich, according to reports in Italy.
TV station Sky Italia says the Chile international could move to the Bundesliga champions for an initial fee of €36m and that deal could be completed in the next 24 hours.
Vidal has been the subject of transfer speculation in recent months with the South American player linked with Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal and Sevilla this summer after a strong campaign with Juve.
The 28-year-old scored seven goals and set up four more in 28 league appearances to help Juve clinch their fourth straight scudetto this past season.
Vidal also contributed to Juve winning the Coppa Italia and for his team to finish runners-up to Barcelona in the Champions League in the 2014-15 campaign.
Meanwhile, Morgan Schneiderlin feels his dark days in League One have prepared him perfectly for the challenge of playing on the biggest and most glamorous of stages with Manchester United.
Schneiderlin looks set to make his United debut in the early hours of tomorrow morning against Mexican side Club America in Seattle.
Next month he is likely to realise his childhood dream of playing in the Champions League for United in their potentially tricky play-off tie.
Such a feat would have seemed unthinkable five years ago, when Schneiderlin was preparing for Southampton’s League One season-opener against Plymouth, which they lost 1-0.
But the Frenchman would have had it no other way. The £24m (€34m) midfielder believes his experience of playing in the lower reaches of English football has made him into what he is today.
“It seems a long way away, but when I look at it I think it (playing in League One) benefitted me,” Schneiderlin said.
“I think it was the best thing possible.
“I had to toughen my play, look myself in the mirror, and look where to progress. It makes you realise you don’t want to be back there (again).”
After two years in the third tier of English football and three in the Championship, Schneiderlin helped Southampton achieve promotion to the Premier League, and he has not looked back since. After a series of commanding displays in midfield, the France international attracted interest from Tottenham and Arsenal last summer, but he is happy he waited for United’s call.
“I was waiting a long time (to move),” he said. “I could have left before but I felt this was the right move for me.
“I feel physically in the best shape possible, and I feel with my confidence levels that I am ready now to move to a big club... I am ready for Manchester.”
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