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Liverpool and Arne Slot could still wrap a deal for Alexander Isak this summer, though this wouldn't be the first time the Reds have launched a lucrative bid for a top-flight centre-forward.
Newcastle's Swedish star has been embroiled in a bitter transfer saga this window after making clear in July his wish to explore other options. Since then, he has downed tools and refused to play for the Magpies, while they insist he will not leave but remain with the club unless an adequate offer is received.
A bid worth roughly $150 million was turned down for Isak earlier this month, though it is thought he is valued at around $200M. This figure would turn heads, much like the sum that secured Christian Benteke's signature from Aston Villa in 2015.
The Belgian had netted 49 times in 101 appearances for the Villans, but his former manager Tim Sherwood could not believe that the Reds were willing to meet his $44M release clause. Sherwood even tried to put ex-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers off making a deal, but he couldn't stop his star striker from departing for an astonishing fee 10 years ago.
Benteke impressed for Villa during the 2014/15 Premier League season, scoring 13 league goals. Other teams immediately came sniffing around, and Liverpool was one of them.
Sherwood was keen to keep hold of the talismanic No. 9 and admitted that he tried his best to prevent an exit for the Belgian. However, he remains in awe of the eventual fee Liverpool parted with for Benteke and could do nothing to let him go at that price.
"At the end of the season, Brendan [Rodgers] called me and said he was going to sign Christian," Sherwood admitted on the Undr The Cosh Podcast in 2023. "I tried my best to put him off.
"I remember ringing the chairman and I told him Christian is going. And he said 'You're joking me?' It wasn't like, 'You're joking, we don't want to lose him.' It was like 'You're joking, nobody is paying that?'"
With his release clause met, Benteke became the Reds' seventh summer signing, and the former second-most expensive recruit in the club's history, behind Andy Carroll.
The Belgian enjoyed a mixed start to life on Merseyside, but after Jurgen Klopp replaced Rodgers in October 2015, he was more often than not being utilised off the bench. Unfit to play in Klopp's style, Benteke left after just one season, in which he scored 10 goals.
"When Klopp came in, given the players available to him... I wasn't among his first choices," Benteke told L'Equipe in 2016 after he left Anfield. "Given the way he wanted to play, perhaps there were more interesting players than me.
"But I'm not a child: I didn't cry, I didn't moan, even if of course I wanted to play. It was frustrating. You can't allow yourself to give up, to stay in the situation of a loser, so you try to find a solution, to be happy. I found that by coming to Crystal Palace, and I'm happy."
Crystal Palace landed the forward for an initial $39M, meaning the Reds were able to recoup most of what they paid Villa. He carved out a stellar stint at Selhurst Park.
After playing nearly 200 times for the Eagles and scoring 37 goals, he moved to the MLS with D.C. United. At 34, Benteke is now captain of the club and has bagged a respectable 48 goals in 94 games for the Black-and-Red.
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