Palace offered an initial £23.5 million with a further £7 million in add-ons. Those additional clauses included £2.5 million should Palace qualify for the Champions League with Benteke scoring 20 goals and playing in 70 per cent of the fixtures of such a top-four campaign. These three conditions formed part of the same clause.

Further extras were related to Palace retaining their Premier League status during his contract, but it is the Champions League clause that is most eye-catching in revealing the lofty ambitions of Pardew’s side over the next few years.

Inevitably, this was not considered realistic on Merseyside and Liverpool want much more upfront for the Belgian to proceed with negotiations.