West Ham switch to Liverpool misfit after Tevez snub

Crystal Palace face competition from West Ham for Liverpool striker Christian Benteke after talks to bring back Carlos Tevez broke down.

The 32-year-old Argentine striker is a cult hero amongst Hammers fans after his goal-scoring streak of seven goals in the last 10 games of the 2006/07 season helped keep West Ham in the Premier League.

Hammers co-chairman David Gold revealed that the club did try and make an emotional return happen this summer, but Tevez’s excessive wage demands means the deal was never likely to happen.

“We tried to get Tevez but he wanted £250,000 a week. In his last year at Juventus, he was great. But 250 grand a week?” Sullivan told the Daily Mirror.

“He’ll probably stay where he is now, but he doesn’t pay a lot of tax down there.”

West Ham’s prolonged search for a new striker has now seen the Hammers join the race to sign unwanted Reds forward Benteke, according to reports, and are planning to hold talks with the Belgium international by the weekend.

Crystal Palace have reportedly made an improved offer of £31.5million for the former Aston Villa striker after they missed out on signing his fellow compatriot Michy Batshuayi, who became Antonio Conte’s first signing at Chelsea .