Tottenham: Why Jermain Defoe Plus Cash Won't Land Christian Benteke

According to Darren Lewis of the Mirror, Tottenham are preparing to offer Jermain Defoe plus an undisclosed amount of cash for Aston Villa's Christian Benteke.

The Belgian striker, whose 19 league goals went a long way toward saving the Midlands club from relegation, is now one of the hottest forwards on the summer transfer market.

Paul Lambert is desperate to keep the Belgian and, according to The Times (£), faces an anxious wait over whether he will sign a new deal at the club.

Simon Jones of the Daily Mail first reported Spurs' interest in Benteke back in March, but now it appears a concrete bid is imminent.

Tottenham fans are right to get excited over the prospect of Benteke wearing a Lilywhite shirt but should hold fire on the champagne for now: There is no chance a Defoe-plus-cash deal sways Villa's hand even a little.

For the last two successive seasons, Villa's financial mantra has revolved around cutting player wages, saving money and recruiting young players with resale value.

Matthew Lowton, Ashley Westwood, Yacouba Sylla, Joe Bennett and Christian Benteke were all recruited last season—not one is over the age of 23, and not one will be earning a mega wage.

Consider this, then ask where a 30-year-old Defoe, who is supposedly on anything between £50,000 and £70,000-per-week, fits into this plan.

Defoe has no resale value whatsoever, and the link between he and Villa floats to the surface every single summer without fail.

Villa have built their team around Benteke, who represents the complete modern forward. Recruiting a one-dimensional poacher in the form of Defoe would very much go against what Lambert is trying to do.

In fact, it would be akin to deciding Darren Bent is suddenly back in the starting lineup.

Tottenham will find out soon enough that they will need to stump up a considerable amount of cash to land Benteke, not weedle unwanteds and cast-offs into the deal to lower the price.

Ironically, the players Villa might look at signing in return—Steven Caulker, Danny Rose and Gylfi Sigurdsson et al—are probably off limits.

An impasse awaits.

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