Christian Benteke: I'm trying to persuade Mamadou Sakho to stay at Crystal Palace

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Christian Benteke has revealed he is trying to persuade on-loan defender Mamadou Sakho to stay at Crystal Palace, although the striker admits it won't be easy.

Sakho has impressed since joining Palace on a six-month loan deal from Liverpool in January, but is likely to miss the Eagles' final three league games through injury, after sustaining a knee problem in the 1-0 loss at home to Tottenham last week.

Benteke knows Sakho well from their time playing for Jurgen Klopp's side, and the forward admitted he wants his friend to remain at Selhurst Park next season but concedes offers from other clubs could tempt the defender into opting to leave the Eagles this summer.

"I'm trying to persuade him to stay but it will be tough," Benteke said.

"He'll have offers from other clubs, although our chairman and boss will try to get him to stay too.

"He's made such a difference to us. First, we have to make sure we remain in the Prem - but we're not far away now."

Benteke signed for Palace in a club-record deal last August when Alan Pardew was still manager of the club.

After suffering a poor start to the season, however, Pardew was relieved of his duties just before Christmas before the arrival of Sam Allardyce has helped put Palace on course to remain in the Premier League this season.

The club know that a win away to Manchester City this Saturday would all but see them avoid the drop, and Benteke admitted he wants to help Palace improve next season and start challenging for the top 10 spots.

"It wasn't the plan when I came to fight relegation," he said.

"Next season we have to aim for the top half of the Premier League table."

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