D.C. United has reached agreement to acquire Belgian national team striker Christian Benteke from Crystal Palace, adding a 10-year Premier League veteran as MLS’s transfer and trade window was closing and the London club was preparing to begin its season, four people familiar with the negotiations said Friday.
The deal was struck late Thursday, hours before the MLS deadline, and details were being finalized Friday, said two people, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely on the matter.
Benteke, 31, is United’s biggest prize in a summer blitz to revamp a last-place roster under new coach Wayne Rooney.