DJS

Finally! Club have confirmed the transfer. Welcome Benteke!

People still think it'll be announced today?

Yeah, it wasn't his resignation being offered at all. It was him effectively (and needlessly saying) that if they sack him, he will go. Only, he didn't use the 'sack' word.

Sakho isn't going anywhere. The club are currently in talks with him over a contract extension.

Borini is meant to be of interest to West Ham. West Brom supposedly keen on Lambert. And Sampdoria apparently agreed to take Balotelli on loan but only if we pay 70% of his wages.

Think you're pronouncing that wrong...

In fairness, the kind of players who make that kind of difference tend to be strikers or attacking midfielders/wingers. Hardly ever defenders. I've often thought this and how close we went to the title proves it - if you're going for top 4, what'll do it for you are goal scorers and matchwinners. Usually talking strikers. It doesn't matter if the defence is average because you'll score more going the other way, as we did 2 years ago. Logic suggests you do need a good defence to actually WIN the title (although we went close enough to create doubt) but you don't really need one for top four, as long as you have people to score tonnes of goals.

you'd have serious doubts about their chasing ability if this one fails.

Some positives there, even though I've been vocally against signing him. He's scored against top teams which is never a bad thing and he's got a freekick in him. Can take a pen too. He might be better as an all round footballer, in terms of touch and technique, than I've given him credit for. I'm not entirely convinced still and I still don't think he's fluid or nimble/silky enough, but perhaps we've got a few of those already so can afford someone with less subtlety and more sheer presence. I hope he bags 25 goals next season and makes me eat humble pie.

Yeah, good shouts mate. Now you've mentioned them, I remember them clearly. No doubt and amazing player, but never a flat track bully whatsoever. He scored against the top teams, he scored against the decent teams and he scored against the dross. Christ, I miss him.

Really sad, I never saw him play, way before my time. But saw and spoke to him several times in the Main Stand car park before games and he was always so friendly, so warm and just a lovely man. Nothing was ever too much trouble and every time he signed an autograph, posed for a picture or just chatted, he was incredibly genuine & always had time. Such a gentleman.

Sorry to pick at a minor issue, but Suarez scored against City, United, Spurs and in derbies. Can't remember if he scored against Chelsea & Arsenal (rattled the bar with a 40 yard volley) but not sure it's true to say he didn't score against top sides.

How so?

I still don't think Benteke is the answer but he's better than nobody and it seems like he's our only actual target for a striker. On top of this, the desire on our part to get him seems sizeable, which must equate to the club (or manager/committee) strongly believing that he'd make a big positive difference for us. I'm dubious but going along with the notion for a second, if the club feel that strongly that he would be a great signing for us, it's slightly concerning that we seem to be, once again, dithering about over a few million on the fee. Seems to me that either the club rate him really highly (hence we want to sign him), in which case, just pay the £32m, or we only think he's worth £25m (or whatever it is), in which case, do we really think he's that great? All seems a bit fluffy to me. If he's the dogs b*llocks that'll get us back in the top four, let's stop arsing about over an amount of money we've frequently p*ssed away on the likes of a Luis Alberto or an amount which is even less than we spunked down the toilet for an Aspas.

With all that in mind, we still won't revert to Plan B. Not under BR.

That would be a useful thing to have if we were going to utilise it, but I don't think we will. We bought Lambert on that premise and rarely (if ever) did we actually revert to an approach designed to make the most of his physicality. Rodgers' mindset is if Plan A isn't working, we aren't doing it right. We don't do 'plan b'.

That's such a stupid argument.

No, what I've done is responded to someone who took the hypothetical thing and said it'd be an example of doing well.

If Sturridge & Benteke get 15 each, they will have played too many games for Ings & Origi to get enough game time, to score 5 each. Really? You need me to explain?

15 goals for a £32.5m signing, playing as a striker for one of the league's better teams, isn't especially well. It's barely par.

If Pedro is really available for £20m and we prefer Benteke for £30m, it's like the kind of April Fools joke I'd find really funny if it happened to another club.

It's closer to Wales than Madrid is. That's all I've got.

One way to look at this is, apart from Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez...is any player in that very top category, whereby they're worth £70m, £80m etc? Nah. So the next level down, the £50m-£60m kind of level. We're talking Hazard, Neymar, Aguero, Bale, Pogba. That's the level that's worth circa £50m-£60m. Is Sterling at that level? Nope. I don't think he's even at the level below that. He may go on to be but he's nowhere near right now. In that context, £49m is astonishing.

It's a weak point, when you consider that these players we've sold for fortunes, we originally bought for relative peanuts. Clearly there are times when we buy very well. We've had nightmares in the transfer market off the back of a huge sale, when there's been pressure on to replace the player we've sold for a huge amount. Suggests that maybe we panic a bit and have shown signs of being desperate to replace a 'star'. That in itself, offers a warning when it comes to Benteke.

Is there even the remotest possibility that, if we chuck big wages at him, we could get Lacazette? He'll become brilliant in the next few years.