Spurs dangle Benteke bait

TOTTENHAM are ready to give Aston Villa the pick of four stars in part-exchange for Christian Benteke.

But they are unwilling to match Villa’s £25million asking price for the wantaway striker.

Spurs value him at closer to £20m and hope to pull off an audacious cash-plus-players swoop.

They are ready to allow at least one of Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Scott Parker, Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone leave as part of the deal.

But Villa are understood to want a cash-only sale for Benteke who slapped in a transfer request this week.

The 22-year-old Belgian has not travelled with the Villa squad to their pre-season training camp in Germany.

Chelsea are also thought to be interested but the ex-Gent striker is said to prefer Tottenham, even though he reportedly supported Arsenal as a kid.

Even if Spurs do not secure a part-exchange deal it is unlikely the four players in question will remain at White Hart Lane for long.

Left-back Assou-Ekotto is a £3m target for Fenerbahce, midfielder Huddlestone has been linked with Sunderland and both Parker and Livermore are thought to be on QPR’s radar.