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According to Belgian news outlet Het Belang van Limburg (via Sport Witness), linked-away Crystal Palace flop Christian Benteke is reluctant to leave England this summer - if the 6 ft 3 striker wasn't difficult enough to budge already, this may have thrown a major spanner in the works for the Eagles' summer plans.

The big Belgian is surely deemed surplus to requirements in SE25 but Palace will undoubtedly be keen to recoup some of the £27m they paid for him in 2016 if they can so they absolutely have to sell him before the end of January, otherwise he will leave on a free next summer.

Benteke's stubbornness therefore could become a huge problem for Palace as they look to make additions to the squad in the coming months.

What's the word?

Well, The Times reported this week that Chinese outfit Shandong Luneng Taishan have offered £15m for the 28-year-old's services, although Het Belang van Limburg understand that 'the player himself would prefer to stay in England'.

According to The Times, the 34-cap international would earn £150,000-a-week should he trade Selhurst Park for the Far East - an improvement on his current £130-000-a-week earnings in SE25.

With stadium development plans ongoing, Palace are surely reluctant to spend big on any new signings while the likes of Benteke are burning unjustifiable holes in their wage budget, although if he doesn't want to cross the channel in search of a new club, then the Eagles could struggle to find a suitor.

There's some exciting changes happening at Crystal Palace next summer. Find out what in the video below...

Can't get rid of him that easily

The number 17 has netted just four times since the start of the 2017/18 campaign and has been plagued with a recurring knee injury - having seen his goalscoring exploits, or lack thereof, in the past couple of seasons, it's unlikely that any other Premier League clubs will be willing to take the highly-paid flop off Palace's hands any time soon, particularly if he could be available on a free next summer.

With Michy Batshuayi set to return to Chelsea at the end of the month, Palace may have been hoping that their lightened payroll could have helped them to adjust to the number 23's demands if they were to make a permanent move, although Benteke's stubbornness could deal a damaging blow to their chances of bringing his compatriot back to Selhurst Park this summer.