Daniel Levy up to his old tricks with striker target?

If The Sun is to be believed -- and yes, please take this with an entire salt mine -- Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Christian Benteke but aren't above pulling out a few dirty tricks to get him. Aston Villa don't appear willing to sell, so Merseyside's favorite tabloid believes that Daniel Levy will wait until the end of the transfer window, then pounce with a £20m bid.

Seems reasonable, right? Villa aren't going to let Benteke go for that price now with plenty of time to negotiate, but it's hard to say no when someone slaps a £20m check on the table and you only have a few minutes to say yes or no.

Except this doesn't make any sense, because Benteke will have as many years left on his contract on deadline day as he does right now, and he'll still be on cheap wages, and he'll probably still be willing to play another season for Aston Villa. Tottenham will probably have David Villa or Roberto Soldado or someone who is at least better than Emmanuel Adebayor come deadline day and will be a couple of weeks into the season, so Benteke won't be automatically first choice if he comes. Aston Villa are unlikely to need money more than they do right now, and Benteke's value won't be less than it is right now.

This is not to mention the fact that Villa won't have time to sign an adequate replacement, which should theoretically make them less willing to sell Benteke than they are right now.

This is just The Sun being The Sun. It's a meaningless report. If Levy calls up Villa with an hour to go on deadline day and offers £20m, even if it's not spread out over a few years or with escalators, if it's straight cash, they hang up the phone. They're not taking £20m for Benteke, today or on deadline day, period.