Live transfers

Transfers - Your view: Benzema worth the fuss?

Eurosport - Thu, 02 Jul 09:39:00 2009

Real Madrid have won the battle with Manchester United to sign Karim Benzema from Lyon, but is he worth the fuss and £30 million plus?

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Lyon - Benzema - 0

Certainly the statistics suggest he is. Seventeen goals in 36 Ligue 1 games last season, off the back of 20 in the same number of outings the previous campaign.

Cynics may point out that Ligue 1 is a far cry from La Liga, but he has succeeded at the highest level too - nine goals in 15 Champions League games during the same two-year period proves that.

That kind of scoring record indicates the boy is a bit special in front of goal and, considering he is just 21, he still has his best years ahead of him - quite a scary thought.

Add power and pace to his scoring prowess and he appears to have all the attributes to succeed in Spain.

But questions remain over his temperament with whispers in France suggesting he can be a disruptive influence in the dressing room.

His fractious relationship with former team-mate Hatem Ben Arfa was widely recognised and Thierry Henry is rumoured to have clashed with him over a seat on the France team bus.

Have United missed out on a potentially world-class talent or have they done the right thing in leaving it to Madrid?

Will he be yet another unmanageable ego in the Bernabeu dressing room or could he be Madrid's star striker for years to come?

And who should United go for now?

What do you think?

Have your say below or on the message threads via the link underneath the photo.

Eurosport

Comment 40 - 59 of 119

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    who gives a shag? manc to55ers all ye.

    From gary s, on Wed 1 Jul 9:56PM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    you typical english...sore losers!...now benzema is a­ madrista and real will create the second coming only­ this time, the new galacticos are younger, stronger and­ will dominate not only la liga but the champions­ league...vamos madrid!!!

    From milton, on Wed 1 Jul 9:53PM
  3. man u will get him 35million i reckon (even no hes not­ worth it

    From ryan, on Wed 1 Jul 9:43PM
  4. Who ever said he wanted to play for manu he certainly­ never said that i dont think it's a price war in­ fact Sir Alex wanted him badly by all reports and im­ sure manu you would have out bid madrid the fact of the­ matter is he wanted to play for madrid.Why do people on­ this site constantly think that its up to the clubs­ where their players go ITS NOT ITS UP TO THE PLAYER its­ up to the club to get the best deal thats it. Suddenly­ Benzema goes from been a great player when hes linked­ to manu to been an average one when he go's to­ madrid cop on people

    From jomc_1999, on Wed 1 Jul 9:43PM
  5. I suppose any ambitious player given the choice between­ playing in a team containing Kaka and Ronaldo etc. and­ one containing Giggs and Scholes etc. would find it­ difficult to reach a decision. I don't think so.

    From BRIAN, on Wed 1 Jul 9:12PM
  6. New RM players: Ronaldo,Kaka,Benzema some old players :­ Nisterlooy, Heinze ...and other...all this players have­ one thing in commen ,, Sir Alex Ferguson ,, The­ difference between RM and MAN UTD is that MAN UTD have­ a maneger with a brain and RM have a lot of money to­ spend...so what ever MAN UTD chooses to bye ..REAL­ gives more money knowing that theyr spending on a good­ singing ....cuz Ferguson knows what he wants and RM­ don't !!

    From Filip S, on Wed 1 Jul 9:03PM
  7. a team cant b made by just buying expensive players!­ Purchasing ronaldo, kaka, and now benzema is putting a­ HUGE burden on this side nxt yr to succeed... I foresee­ madrid finsishing in the 2nd position once agian in­ Primera! Manchester united will find the right players­ to replace ronaldo and tevez (dont really need to­ replace him). Having rooney can already fill in for­ some of ronaldos scoring force and they can still pick­ up the likes of douglas costa and mayb even Aguero

    From mccabic, on Wed 1 Jul 9:01PM
  8. Man Utd should buy Aguero...if they need they should­ pay even 50 milions,he is ridiculously good! Who­ agree??

    From Alen, on Wed 1 Jul 8:48PM
  9. Is he worth £30million rising to £35million? Have not ­ got a clue; never seen him play except on a CL night if­ he was involved in a game against a PL side!!!!! The ­ fact that none of the managers or clubs that i respect,­ such as Sir Alex, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal have ­ not got involved in a price war for him tells me that ­ he is not wirth the money. The more important question ­ is whether what is happening at RM is morally correct. ­ Here we have a club that would have gone out of ­ business after the last spending spree that Perez went ­ on; only managing to stay in business because Real ­ Madrid County Council bought them out. Now we have ­ three spanish banks stumping up 800million euro's ­ to finance another spending spree by Perez. Of course, ­ the banks know that their money is safe because Real ­ Madrid County Council will not go out of business as ­ the increased taxes that the Real Madrid citizens will ­ be paying over the next six years will prevent this ­ from happening. Clubs should only be allowed to spend ­ what they have as surplus cash from generated football ­ profits or from the sale of players.

    Well said my­ friend. Perfect to the point

    From kielchamp12, on Wed 1 Jul 8:47PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    it seems that now united have lost there show pony in­ ronaldo and now the truth behind the tevez affair is­ out

    with him saying he felt unwanted maybe other­ players are thinking the same after all ronaldo likened­ it to slavery

    would you want to go there ? i know i­ wouldn,t the only players going to united will be from­ lower league sides and players from wigan and the­ like

    fergie has lost his touch and united have lost­ some of there attraction for big name players expect­ rooney to be next

    From JOHNNYG2, on Wed 1 Jul 8:44PM
  11. Benzema is ok, not a world class player and he wont be­ starting with the strikers that have been signed. I­ really dont see Madrid doing really amazing. They have­ only signed big offensive players, they need defenders.­ If you remember they lost 6-2 to Barca and 5-0 to­ Liverpool. They can score goals, but its not going to­ prevent leaking them. I predict Real dont win­ Champions League.

    From OllieG, on Wed 1 Jul 8:03PM
  12. not worth it

    From elnino, on Wed 1 Jul 7:54PM
  13. Real Madrid will have some talent on the subs bench­ next season,some will be in the january sales

    From LES, on Wed 1 Jul 7:45PM
  14. PERSONALLY I DID NOT RATE BENZEMA WOULD SOONER HAVE­ SOMEONE LIKE PODOLSKI I NO HES NOT QUITE WORLD CLASS­ BUT HE CAN PLAY ON THE LEFT WING ALSO THERES RONALDINHO­ I KNOW HES NOT A STRIKER BUT HE ALSO COMES IN ON THE­ LEFT SIDE COME ON SIR ALEX LETS GET SOME QUALITY­ PLAYERS IN WE NEED TO SHUT THE SCUM LOSERPOOL UP AND­ BLOW THE REST OF THE TOP TEAMS OUT OF THE­ WATER.
    GLOOOOOORY GLOOOOOORY MAN UTD

    From WAYNE, on Wed 1 Jul 7:42PM
  15. Real Madrid are cruising for a bruising.

    Firstly, they­ are €500 million in debt, they want to spend €300­ million more, and have managed to spend like €200­ million of that on players, two of whom have egos­ larger than the club itself. Ronaldo and Benzema­ together could be a real problem, ronaldo wants to be­ the best, but if Kaka is considered better then he­ might go off in a huff, can pellegrini control the two­ of them? I doubt it.

    So when madrid have to sell these­ players because of problems, and make a massive loss,­ then they will just wait for the spanish government to­ bail them out AGAIN!! They are taking the mike, and­ UEFA need to put a cap on the debt clubs can get into­ and play in the champions league, then all this rubbish­ will stop!!

    From tom b, on Wed 1 Jul 7:27PM
  16. hes not a good player
    wasting money for real

    From amirullah, on Wed 1 Jul 7:27PM
  17. Huntelaar should be surplus for Real now, go get him­ SAF. We need one reserved striker and he must it. The­ price of 10m pound should do the job.

    From Minh Trinh, on Wed 1 Jul 7:17PM
  18. he's good but not as good as ronaldo (as a player)

    From the_smiths_rule, on Wed 1 Jul 7:09PM
  19. Not worth the price at all

    From BillyS, on Wed 1 Jul 6:57PM
  20. 30 Million Pounds?? are they serious? He is NOT BETTER­ than Fernando Torres or even Rooney, he plays just OK­ but he not that special, honestly Anelka is way better­ than him. (Just like Berbatov) he is not worth that­ amount. maybe 20 or 15 million is OK for this kid.

    From Boodi S, on Wed 1 Jul 6:54PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account