Christian Benteke set for Crystal Palace medical

Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has revealed he wanted to sign Christian Benteke when he was at Newcastle, with the striker set for his Crystal medical on Friday.

Palace have agreed a £32m fee with Liverpool for the Belgian, according to Sky sources, with Pardew also revealing that personal terms still have to be agreed with the player.

It is understood Palace are prepared to pay an initial £27m plus £5m in add-ons for the former Aston Villa man, with Pardew keen to add to his squad following the departures of Yannick Bolasie to Everton and Mile Jedinak to Aston Villa.
"He'll have his medical today but personal terms have to be done. We've agreed everything with Liverpool," Pardew said.

"We've lost Mile and Yannick - both big figures at this club. We need to replace them with others.
"Benteke is someone I know very well as I wanted to take him to Newcastle. It just didn't work out for him at Liverpool."