Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Christian Benteke from Aston Villa in a deal worth £32.5m.

The Belgian striker had been Brendan Rodgers’ top target for much of the summer with the Northern Irishman having been desperate to inject goals into his Reds attack after a below par 2014/15 season.

And Benteke is seemingly the man that will be leading the line when the new campaign kicks off, with the 24-year-old having officially put pen to paper on a long-term deal after weeks of intense speculation.

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Speaking to the club's official website shortly after signing for the Reds, Benteke said: "I'm very happy to be here and I would like to thank the owners, Ian [Ayre] and of course the manager for their massive effort to bring me here.

"It's hard to show your emotion when you've just come from doing something [like this] but of course I am very happy.

"I think it was the right club for me because I had a good chat with the manager and I wanted to be part of his project.

"I'm very happy to be part of the Liverpool family now and I will do everything to make them [the fans] happy and work hard for them and my teammates."

Although Liverpool were reluctant to match the £32.5m release clause in his contract initially, the sale of Raheem Sterling to Manchester City – a move worth up to £49m – prompted the club to remove Villa’s desire to keep their man from the equation with an offer last week.

Benteke, who scored 13 Premier League goals last term, helped to knock the Merseysiders out of the FA Cup in the clubs’ Wembley semi-final clash, and is now the North West outfit’s second most expensive player ever behind Andy Carroll.