ottenham prepare £20m bid for Christian Benteke with Arsenal and Chelsea waiting in wings

TOTTENHAM will this week lodge a £20m bid for Aston Villa's wantaway striker Christian Benteke.

Christian Benteke's goals helped keep Aston Villa in the Premier League

The Belgium hit-man, 22, wants to leave Villa Park for a bigger club after battling relegation last season.
Spurs can offer him Europa League action and, crucially, regular first-team football.
That will be a huge factor in any possible deal as Benteke wants minutes under his belt to be in the best possible shape ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
Villa want £25m for Benteke, who netted 19 Premier League goals last season.
And the striker knows that if a big-money offer isn't on the table and Benteke sulks, boss Paul Lambert isn't afraid to freeze him out.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have both mulled over a move for the giant striker, with the Blues considering a Demba Ba plus cash swap move.

Lambert is not happy with Benteke's conduct

Benteke has his eyes set on representing Belgium at next year's World Cup

“Lambert has a track record that shows, if you cross him, he will leave you on the bench”

Stan Collymore

However, Benteke fears he wouldn't get the starts he needs at Stamford Bridge.
Spurs have already splashed out a club-record fee of £17m on Paulinho and money could prevent a possible deal for the Villa striker.
However, Andre Villas-Boas is understood to be trying to raise funds by selling Emmanuel Adebayor.

Benteke smashed in 19 Premier League goals for Villa last season

Benteke is highly sought-after

Ex-Villa striker Stan Collymore insists Villa are under no pressure to sell Benteke, who was a £7m capture from Genk last summer.
Collymore said: "There is a World Cup coming up next summer and Lambert has a track record that shows, if you cross him, he will leave you on the bench.
"Villa's financial outlay on Benteke isn't enough to stop Lambert saying, 'If you start messing us around we will be quite happy to leave you out'."

A warm embrace for Paul Lambert and Christian Benteke

But summer signing Nicklas Helenius has expressed his disappointment at the news that Benteke is looking to leave the Midlands outfit.
He told the Birmingham Mail: "We have not been given much information about why he is not joining us for pre-season, but apparently he has put in a transfer request.
"It is down to the club and player how they want to handle the situation.
"It is not something that I take much joy from even though it improves my chances.

A possible swap deal to Chelsea, with Ba plus cash for Benteke, has been mooted