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?
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.
EurosportThere are currently no live events taking place.
| Match |
|---|
| Independiente 1 - 1 Argentinos Juniors |
| Colón (Santa Fe) 1 - 0 Godoy Cruz |
| Huracán 0 - 0 Boca Juniors |
| Match |
|---|
| Leeds United 5 - 1 Kettering Town |
| Aldershot Town 1 - 2 Tranmere Rovers |
| Barnet 0 - 1 Accrington Stanley |
| Barrow 3 - 1 Oxford United |
| Luton Town 3 - 0 Rotherham United |
| Match |
|---|
| FC Astra 1 - 1 Dinamo Bucuresti |
| Match |
|---|
| Frosinone 1 - 0 Brescia |
| Grosseto 2 - 2 AlbinoLeffe |
| Reggina 0 - 2 Sassuolo |
| Salernitana 1 - 0 Empoli |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 19:45 | Liverpool v Fiorentina |
| 19:45 | Olympique Lyon v Debrecen |
| 19:45 | Dynamo Kyiv v FC Barcelona |
| 19:45 | Internazionale v Rubin Kazan |
| 19:45 | Sevilla FC v Rangers |
| 19:45 | VfB Stuttgart v Unirea Urziceni |
| 19:45 | Olympiacos v Arsenal |
| 19:45 | Standard Liège v AZ Alkmaar |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 19:45 | Barnsley v Scunthorpe United |
| 19:45 | Coventry City v Newcastle United |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 19:45 | Millwall v Staines Town |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 17:00 | Shakhtar Donetsk v Metalurh Zaporizhzhya |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 20:00 | San Lorenzo v Lanús |
| 22:10 | Gimnasia (La Plata) v Newell's Old Boys |
| Time | Match |
|---|---|
| 16:00 | Al Ahli v Auckland City |
Sign up to our free daily newsletter to recieve the latest news straight to your inbox. Make sure you don’t miss a thing.
Sign up now
This site is Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! and Eurosport. All rights reserved.
Notice: We collect personal information on this site. To learn more about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy.


Comment 40 - 59 of 119
who gives a shag? manc to55ers all ye.
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!!!
man u will get him 35million i reckon (even no hes not worth it
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
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.
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 !!
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
Man Utd should buy Aguero...if they need they should pay even 50 milions,he is ridiculously good! Who agree??
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
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
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.
not worth it
Real Madrid will have some talent on the subs bench next season,some will be in the january sales
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
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!!
hes not a good player
wasting money for real
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.
he's good but not as good as ronaldo (as a player)
Not worth the price at all
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.
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account