Liverpool agree deal to sign Benteke from Villa

Christian Benteke will undergo a Liverpool medical in the next 24 hours after Liverpool and Aston Villa agreed the payment structure of £32.5m transfer.

Having met the exit clause in Benteke's contract, Liverpool's chief executive Ian Ayre and his Villa counterpart Tom Fox finalised terms on Saturday night.

With Liverpool currently in Adelaide as part of their summer tour, it’s been a case of working through the early hours for Ayre but a deal has now been struck. It’s understood Liverpool will pay £16 million immediately on the completion of the deal, with the rest of Benteke’s fee in instalments.

Benteke will undergo his medical in London. Liverpool’s club doctor Andy Massey has left the team hotel in Australia this morning to fly back to the United Kingdom and oversee Benteke’s assessment. That can’t happen until Monday at the earliest, or possibly on Tuesday morning.

The 24-year-old Belgian won’t be flying to join the last leg of Liverpool’s summer tour, which takes in a trip to Malaysia, and will instead train at Melwoood.

Another of Liverpool’s major summer signings – Brazilian Roberto Firmino – begins his pre-season training at Melwood on Wednesday, alongside Philippe Coutinho, and the plan is for Benteke to start his Anfield career then.

He has already been in training with Villa so his fitness levels should be good.

Benteke was due to play for Villa in their tour match in Portugal on Friday but was left out of the squad as it became obvious his move to Liverpool was a formality.

Once Benteke is in place, manager Brendan Rodgers will feel his key summer transfer activity is over. Liverpool have signed eight players – Benteke, Firmino, Nathaniel Clyne, James Milner, Danny Ings, back-up goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, youngster Joe Gomez and striker Divock Origi, who spent last season on loan at Lille.

It is the signing of Benteke that is intended to solve the major problem of last season – goalscoring. The Belgian has been the manager’s number one striking target all summer and having got him, Rodgers is confident the final element of his new-look team is in position.

He has reverted to his 4-3-3 system in Liverpool’s warm-up games so far, a strategy he arrived at Anfield determined to evolve but one which – over his three years – he has never had the players to make work on a consistent basis.

The most striking difference in Liverpool’s transfer activity this summer is the players recruited fit how Rodgers wants to play, while in previous years it has seemed the manager has been tasked with finding a system to suit the players recruited.

In 2013 he did that spectacularly well when accommodating two out-and-out strikers in Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, but last season – feeling under pressure to give the new signings an opportunity – it seemed Rodgers was changing formation and tactics on a minute-to-minute basis, not just from game to game. That undoubtedly contributed to the inconsistency levels.

Although many are seeing similarities in Benteke to a target man Rodgers offloaded in 2012 – Andy Carroll – Liverpool do not believe their player profiles have any resemblance. Benteke is a far more mobile and technically gifted player capable of leading the line as a sole attacker, but also utilising his pace and dribbling ability to get beyond defences.

He can fit into a high-energy 4-3-3 formation and meet the physical demands of Rodgers’ preferred style in way it was believed Carroll never could. In fact, the only similarity those at Anfield see between Benteke and Carroll is his size, heading ability and the fee in excess of £30 million.

Attention will now shift to sales with Liverpool having several players they wish to offload, particularly Fabio Borini, Mario Balotelli and Jose Enrique who were not included in the pre-season tour.

Rickie Lambert can also leave. Lambert’s time on Merseyside did not go according to plan, but there is nothing but respect for his attitude and commitment since joining the club.

Players such as Lucas Leiva continue to be monitored by other clubs – especially in Europe - but Rodgers wants the Brazilian to stay and there is no indication so far that he’ll move. If an offer materialised, that would have an impact on whether Liverpool needed to have another look at incomings but it is not currently on the agenda. Liverpool are short of a specialist defensive midfielder and it would be risky to let a player of Lucas’ experience to go. The player, however, will want to feel he is a first choice selection rather than miss too many games at this stage of his career.

The encouraging performances of Gomez in the warm-up games has also convinced the club the youngster will be competing for a position in defence immediately.