Crystal Palace's Christian Benteke plays down exit speculation amid Everton interest

Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke has stressed he is 'very happy' at Selhurst Park despite speculation linking him with a move to Everton and is determined to help Frank de Boer's side "reach where they want to be."

Benteke, 26, joined Palace from Liverpool last summer in a deal that could potentially be worth up to £32m and scored 15 goals as the Eagles just about achieved Premier League survival under Sam Allardyce.

Both the club and supporters will certainly be hoping for better in the upcoming campaign under De Boer. But instead of having designs on joining the Everton revolution, Benteke is keen to be part of the Dutchman's project at Palace and force his way into Belgium manager Roberto Martinez's starting line-up ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

"I'm very happy," the Crystal Palace forward told Sky Sports. "I want to be part of the project of the manager and I'm looking forward for this new season. I want to perform and to score more goals and to really help the team to reach where they want to be.

"Since we came back for pre-season I didn't really want to talk, but I want to be here. There's the World Cup and that's an important aspect of being with the club and you have to perform to be part of that group."

Everton are monitoring the Palace forward as they bid to find a replacement for his compatriot Romelu Lukaku, who joined Manchester United earlier this month. But the former Liverpool hitman is not Ronald Koeman's top striker target this summer, with Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud topping the Dutchman's list.

Everton's chances of signing Giroud, believed to be valued at £20m by Arsenal, were made greater by Borussia Dortmund's announcement that they will not sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer.

The German outfit had considered signing Giroud if the Gabon international did leave for pastures new, but with Aubameyang set to remain at the Signal Iduna Park for another season, Peter Bosz's men have no need to recruit Giroud, who is also attracting interest from Marseille.