I know I left speculation alone a while ago and only really delve in on transfer deadline day, but there is a lot of talk today that Benteke is off after this season and well, it deserves a mention, as do the new rules brought in yesterday, but that is for another post and when I've had time to properly understand them.
So, to the speculation and my first thoughts were that this didn't surprise me and for a lot of reasons. First, ambition. He is in the inside and from the outside it looks like the club isn't actually that ambitions. If it were, he'd know about it. The thing is, we're not. We all know this.
Then, it's about getting a better offer. Nobody knows what money he is on with us, but I'd guess something around the £20,000 a week mark. Now, you might think that low, but try to imagine what he was on in Belgium. He probably more than doubled his salary coming to us. It was an easy decision.
Cash is king
I might be wrong, it might be £30,000 a week, but I'd be quite surprised if it was. And, he knows after having a somewhat successful season, scoring ten goals to date (in 22 appearances, so I'm calling it 'somewhat' because Van Persie has 18 in 23 and that is successful), that he can get more and he probably also doesn't want to be playing in the Championship next season or, if we manage to stay up, fighting relegation again.
That last bit is linked to the ambition. We have none of that, so even if we do stay up, it's going to be another tough season. Unless we're sold that is and I still think Lerner is actively looking for a buyer, but that is gut and nobody has told me anything.
But then, the manager as good as confirms he is for sale. It just doesn't feel right. Lambert probably already knows. Hell, he does know. We all know.
Banging my head now
I wish I never started a post around speculation, because it just turns into a post that isn't about speculation. We all know Benteke is off, even if we stay up. We're a selling club. We're a club with no ambition. We're a club going nowhere. We are the next Bolton; no real ambition. Look around at all the other teams in the Premier League and you'll see ambition.