Tim Sherwood admits the sale of Christian Benteke similar to Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale
was Tim Sherwood’s (L) star striker at Villa Park last season
Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has compared his side’s sale of Christian Benteke to the loss of Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez, according to ESPN. Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers added Benteke to his squad during the summer transfer window for a reported fee of 32.5 million.
The under pressure manager at Villa park has admitted that the Merseyside club came calling for Benteke during the summer after his superb form at the end of last season. The Villans were forced to sell their star striker when they activated the release clause in his contract.
Not only did Sherwood see the departure of the Belgium international, the summer transfer window also saw his side’s captain Fabian Delph leave for Manchester City and Tom Cleverly join Everton at Goodison Park.
However, the 46-year-old has admitted that the loss of Benteke was similar to the situation when the Reds sold Suarez to Barcelona and Bale moved from White Hart Lane to join Real Madrid in 2013.
"Benteke leaving was absolutely the same as Suarez or Gareth Bale,” he said.
“If he didn't have a clause in his contract then £100m wouldn't have taken him away from us.”
"He wasn't worth selling for any money. No money can guarantee you Premier League survival – that player could.”
“It's all relative, but we scraped through relegation last season and were the worst team left in the Premier League.”
“We lost our three best players and that should put it in perspective.”
"You do drop, we can't afford to drop. We have to make sure we stay at least where we were, and higher.”
“That's the size of the task ahead. We knew it wasn't going to be easy and I think all the decision-makers at the club appreciated that."
We would have liked to keep him: Sherwood
Sherwood also stated that Benteke was a bargain for Liverpool at 32.5 million. He admitted earlier this season in an interview that it would be mental to suggest that he favoured the chance to bring in cash from the sale of Benteke to spend on fresh recruits.
“When the phones were in the wall I was pulling them all out hoping that 0151 call wouldn't come,” Sherwood said.
“But I couldn't do it in time and they got through to the chief executive and the people who make decisions at the club.”
“It was taken out of our hands. It was something everyone expected because he is top drawer.”
“We would have liked to have kept him. We valued him at a lot more than that but the clause was in there for a reason and Liverpool matched it.”