Gentlemen, start your engines...

http://www.givemesport.com/358016-chelsea-tottenham-target-christian-benteke-demands-transfer?

Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City target Christian Benteke has handed in a transfer request to his club Aston Villa.

*According to the Mirror, Villains boss Paul lambert was desperate to hold in to the Belgium international and was determined to resist advances from Stamford Bridge, White Hart Lane and the Etihad Stadium.*It now appears as though Jose Mourinho’s and Andre Villas-Boas’ reported interest in a striker rated at £25million has done the trick.

The report claims Benteke has not travelled with the rest of the squad on their pre-season tour of Germany after telling Lambert he wants to leave.

He has reportedly cited the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as the driving factor behind his decision, as he is keen to get first team football at a top club in order to better his chances of a starting sport in the Belgium national team.

Despite recent reports claiming Chelsea were favourites to land the tall striker, this report hints that Tottenham may well be in pole position to snap him up.

*Benteke has won many admirers during his first season in the Premeir League following an £8million move from Genk.*The 22-year-old scored 19 league goals last season and almost single-handedly saved Villas from relegation.

Lambert was hoping to hang onto Benteke by offering an improved deal that would double his current wages, but it appears as though the lure of playing at a big club has proved to good to ignore.

*Aston Villa released a statement in response to the news breaking and admitted a transfer request had been handed in, though they insisted no bid had been received. *The statement went on to say they expected Benteke to remain a Villa player next season and would plan for him remaining until an acceptable bid has been made.

"While we're hugely disappointed that Christian has put in a transfer request, it's important that people appreciate we are trying to build something strong and vibrant here at the club - something this club demands and stands for, and we want Christian to be part of that,"Lambert is quoted as saying by the BBC.

"Having received his transfer request, we have also informed him that should we receive an offer within an appropriate timeframe during pre-season which meets our valuation, we would act upon it," said the separate club statement.

*"But he will remain a Villa player should this not happen.*"He was reminded that there are three years remaining on his contract, we consider him to be a Villa player and expect that he will be with us for the 2013-14 season."

THIS IS YOUR CHANCE AVB. BUY THIS KID ASAP SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF DAMIAO AGAIN.

He is surely a great young and talented skillful player as I mentioned on my earlier thread that he's been liked with a move to (6) Clubs, he is definitely a steal to any club he joins. Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Man City, Dortmund & Atletico Madrid. But I highly doubt the other clubs need him as much as Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. Benteke and Hazard are a very close friends not to mention that Hazard isn't the only Belgian player in our squad We have also De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard's brother and Courtios for 2014/15 season. so that might be a + for him to join us. I like the fact that he is still 22 years old, totally fits our squad and play style. . I feel good about him joining us. since we missed out on Falcao, Cavani and prolly Lewandoski & maybe just maybe Suarez. I have no idea why the rumors are increasing that Chelsea are interested in him. I don't know how to feel about it if it happen tho.

NO NO NO NO NO NO. DON'T JOIN US. DON'T JOIN SPURS (Like Levy would spend 25-30 million quid, haha!). JUST GO PLAY IN GERMANY OR SOMETHING.

^@Vendetta: Fear not, I'd be surprised if he joined Chelsea. He is too similar of a player to Lukaku (who I agree with you is, at this moment in time, better) so it wouldn't make sense for Chelsea to buy him and it wouldn't make sense for him to want to go to the same club his rival starting CF plays at. Thin about it, if he got benched for Lukaku at Chelsea his chances would be nonexistent for Belgium whereas at another club, he wouldn't have to worry about that.

@Alex: He is NOT "a Steal" at £25m. I agree he has potential, is strong, and young ... but he's only had 1 breaktrhough season at a club with no real competition for CF. That is overpriced at this stage in his development.

What he did at (Aston Villa) was more than great, he scored 19 goals in 34 matches and also scored at Genk 19 goals in 37 matches. 2 seasons in a row. So, imagine him playing for clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs. His transfer market value is 18 million euros. His value is increasing each year. and he is still 22 years old. That's why i said that :) again, he won't be a replacement for Lukaku. Mourinho tends to play with more than one formation depends on who's he playing against. and in anyways we will need a replacement for Ba. I would rather have Lewandowski but apparently he will join Bayern.

@Alex: Ba is not leaving, why are you saying we need a replacement for Ba? Lukaku scored 17 goals in 35 matches in the Premier League and over 40% of them were when he was subbed in. And Lukaku is younger! Lukaku also scored 15 goals in 33 games in the 09-10 season. He was 17 back then! In the 10-11 season he scored 16 goals in 37 games with 11 assists too! Don't forget Lukaku also has European experience during his time with Anderlecht. I have no issue with using Lukaku, Torres and Ba for our striker position and if we 2 of them are injured we could use Schurrle. we shouldn't splash 25-30 million just for Benteke (who I've said for the third time now, is not better than Lukaku anyway :P).

If you lot don't want him, I certainly do! He is EXACTLY what we're missing -- tall, physical, can both pass and shoot with equal ease, young and hungry...

Pack Adebayor's bags, as far as I am concerned, and send him along to knock 5m off the price.

No no no no. You don't want Benteke, Lod. 25-30 million for a player who only scores 19 goals a season?! You deserves better. If you want a tall, physical team playing young-ish striker look no further at... Peter Crouch!
I could forsee a return. 50,000 at WHL just waiting for him to be presented! You don't want to miss out on those robot celebrations, Lod ;)

Bah. Go visit yousuck.com. :p

I don't go to websites that refer to Assou-Ekotto ;)

LOL ^

Yeah, I had to +1 that one. ;)

Lmao at Peter Crouch.. :)) Vendettaaaa lol Notice, you keep repeating yourself. I? Have never said That? Benteke is a replacement for Lukaku! jeez lol and Mourinho doesn't want Ba. Benteke is a world class player if he isn't then why many clubs want him? I've watched him play during last season, this guy is amazing. again.. By saying amazing *I'm not comparing him to Lukaku*. I know that you love Lukaku so much so I'm just saying lol. Yes i agree that Shurrle might play as a striker and most prolly will if we couldn't sign any striker and I'm totally ok with that because Schurrle is *surely* a beast as a striker ;) We are still linked with Lewandoski, Benteke & Lately Suarez. so we will see in the upcoming days :)

Yeah I don't mean it as if we sign him we'll replace Lukaku, what I mean is I don't think we should sign him, simply because we already have a player his type and Mourinho isn't going to pair them up as he prefers to use one striker upfront. I would move my 25 million to sign De Rossi (or Lars Bender if you want to piss off a lot of Arsenal fans). There is no doubt Benteke would be a great signing if we didn't have Lukaku but because we do it wouldn't really seem like the striker we're after. And I love those Schurrle jokes. I think we could actually make a pun combo by using names from the Chelsea team :)

Get back to us when you can think of one for Azpilicueta.. ;)

Gotta agree with V on this one @Alex.

BTW, V why do you keep mentioning De Rossi as if you guys are going to buy him. Did I miss something, or is it just wishfull thinking?

@Lodatz:

@Footaholic: Yeah, Roma are willing to listen to offers for De Rossi but are also okay with him staying. It's all up to De Rossi now who has been unhappy at Roma for a while. There have been no offers yet though according to Walter Sabitini (Director of AS Roma).

@V: WHAT?

If you #$%#$ $@**%*$'s get De Rossi... I'm just .... I have no words.

@Foota We've been linked with him first lol I didn't know that he's been linked with Arsenal as well.