Christian Benteke pleads with Liverpool outcast Mamadou Sakho to stay at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke has asked Mamadou Sakho to leave Liverpool and remain at Selhurst Park after enjoying a successful spell on loan with Sam Allardyce's men.

Sakho, 27, joined Palace during the January transfer window and, while he only featured eight times for the Eagles, managed to provide a pivotal influence at the heart of his side's backline.

The former Paris Saint-Germain captain's career at Liverpool is as good as over after he drew the wrath of manager Jurgen Klopp on a pre-season tour of America. Benteke, a former teammate of Sakho's at Liverpool, says he has asked Sakho to stay at Crystal Palace permanently and believes a move would make it easier for him and his young daughter.

"I have spoken to him and have asked him to stay," Benteke told The Evening Standard. "It is a good team. Obviously with him we can achieve some good things. It is up to him and the chairman.

"I just said to stay. Because he is enjoying life in London. And also for his daughter, they can live in a nice city like London and it is not far from Paris. I know it is not going to be easy but anything can happen.

"The plan now is to move on and look forward. Obviously the manager and the chairman know we need some new faces. We have to look forward to doing better next season."

Crystal Palace boss Allardyce is keen to turn Sakho's loan deal permanent but believes Steve Parish et al will have his work cut out in trying to negotiate with Liverpool, who have slapped a £30m price tag on the defender.

The former England boss said in a recent press conference that the Palace hierarchy will try and cut a deal with the Reds, but is concerned that the potential fee may swallow up too much of his summer budget, with other positions in need of addressing.

"[A deal for] Mama [Sakho] is something the chairman has said that he would try and negotiate, but for a club like ours the figures would have to match up to what we want," Allardyce said. "Have we got the budget? That's the question. If we have, great, if we haven't, move on. We need to strengthen other areas, it'll be a tough summer as it always is."