Karim Benzema to play for United?

Manchester United to offer record-breaking bid to land French star

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Manchester United are set to make a record breaking offer for Lyon’s French star Karim Benzema according to the People newspaper and may be set to offer as high as £30 million for the star.

United are said to be working on a deal to bring Benzema to Old Trafford, however the deal is likely to be delayed due to the upcoming Euro 2008 Championships in which Benzema is being tipped to star in.

Benzema has been rumoured to be top of Alex Ferguson’s wish-list for many months with the striker being strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford back in January.

Benzema, 20, is one of France’s hottest properties at the moment and recently won the prestiged French Ligue 1 Player of the Year award as well as becoming one of the highest paid players in France.

The French star’s preferred role may be up front but Benzema also appeared on both wings for Lyon and would easily fit in with Manchester United’s occasional 4-3-3 tactic. Benzema was said to impress Ferguson through his combination of power and skill.</div>


That would be great for our team.

Hopefully it gets done.

 

That offer Benzema is going to jump much higher in the end, you can bet on it.

 

I agree M21.


Any chance that they end up selling Ronaldo and using the money for Benzema and others? (I hope not)

 

I honestly don't think Manchester United will ever sell Ronaldo as a deal for him would be astronomical. He'd likely switch clubs via the Bosman ruling if anything. For Benzema, they'll likely have to transfer out some players first. My guess would be Carlos Tevez because if they have Benzema, they won't need Tevez anymore.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing @ Jun 1 2008, 11:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I agree M21.


Any chance that they end up selling Ronaldo and using the money for Benzema and others? (I hope not)</div>

No that would be a silly thing to do. Man Utd already have 2 world class strikers (Rooney and Tevez) and they work very well together. So no need to break a sweat over signing him although if Man Utd had the money ready then they should go in High and hope. Maybe even include a player that isn't really needed e.g. Saha. Going back to France could Re-generate his Career. It worked for Cisse and Marseille.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Max @ Jun 3 2008, 09:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Going back to France could Re-generate his Career. It worked for Cisse and Marseille.</div>

No it didn't. he's not even in the french squad for Euro 2008 lol.

anyway, i think Benzema should stay at lyon for atleast 1 more season, yeah he's good but he's only 20. He's got ages to move to the premier league, if he goes to united i don't think he'll be played as much as he would at Lyon.

 

United cannot sell Tevez since he is on loan from Media Sports Investments. Ronaldo is said to be announcing his decision over the next few days, so I think it will all become clearer soon. The fee being talked about in the English press for Ronaldo is around £75 million (~US$150m) so we're talking about a hell of a lot of money. However Fergie has said that United won't sell Ronaldo, that they would rather sit him in the stands for the rest of his contract than sell him. That's a bit stupid, but I think it's a tactic to get Ronny to stay to be honest.

I like Benzema, he has power and skill and that's just the type of striker that will complement Wayne Rooney spectacularly. Rooney has been forced to play up top by himself often this season, but he is a much better player when playing just off a powerful target man, so he can drop back to get the ball in midfield and play the ball forward and make powerful runs through the opposition's defence. I've heard £35m for Benzema, and I can't see United paying too much more than that unless Ronaldo goes. Don't forget, they also need to buy a right back, and have agreed a fee of £5-6m (unsure) for Cardiff's midfield sensation Aaron Ramsey (I think that's his name). They should be able to get a good right back for no more than about £12m (hopefully less), add Ramsey in and that's up to £17m or so. Another £35m for Benzema sees that figure rise to £52m. Offset that with outgoings like Louis Saha, Mickael Silvestre and possibly youngsters like Frazier Campbell (I may have missed more) and I think that net spendings will be about £40m. So unless they sell a star, I doubt they'll want Benzema to cost more that £35m. Also, it is rumoured that Carlos Quieroz has singled out more youngsters from Portugal that might follow in the footsteps of Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson to make big money moves to United. I know the Glazer's are rich, but there's a limit, surely?

 

Yeah, I just read about the Tevez deal, I actually thought he was permanently signed so that's definitely a no-go. I agree with Petey that Tevez and Rooney could play behind Benzema, but I don't think that United will have the cash to purchase Benzema unless they deal out a couple of players. From what I've been hearing the last few days actually is that Benzema will stay with Lyon longer as they just added more power to the club with several key signings that could make them Champions League contenders.

Sorry to get off topic a bit here, but there is no doubt about the power Lyon are beginning to harness. The recent purchases of young amazing players like midfielder Ederson (€15M), keeper Hugo Lloris (€8.5M) and Bosnia's top U21 prospect Miralem Pjanic (€8M) are big signs of this. The first two are coming over from Nice and the Bosnian from recently relegated Metz for a total of €31.5 Million with more proposed spending on the way. Given, Coupet has left the squad to free up salary space, most likely for Prem status, but Lyon are looking more complete then ever right now. I think most of you will agree.

 

But then you would have to think why is Lyon doing all these signings? Could it be that they have decided already now to sell Benzema?

I guess we'll find out.

 

Not really because they haven't signed any strikers yet.