Lyon’s special adviser, Bernard Lacombe, has conceded that there is not a lot the club could do to stop Karim Benzema joining Manchester United this season. Whilst alluding to the large transfer kitty we will have, thanks to the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lacombe reckons anything could happen.
“He is with us, but nobody knows what will happen,” Lacombe said. “We didn’t think Michael Essien would leave at the time, but when Chelsea arrived with the cheque… If United, who as we know have plenty of cash available, came and said we want to buy Benzema, what can you do? Not much.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Im totally against Benzema coming to United! Why not Aguero? Or Villa?
I would take Benzema… 21 years of age… damn right… and so what if he said he wants to play for Madrid…
Pay £30m for him… keep him 5 or 6 years and then sell him to Madrid for £150m or sommat lol
yes yes yes..hes only 21 got an eye for goal left foot right foot header and the best thing about him, is that he isn’t there to assist he is theer to put the ball in the back of the net something we have missed this season( for the first time in a long time not the top scorers in the pl). a great compliment to rooney and berba… aguero is over-rateed sick of argintines to be honest and villa hes 4 ft tall??
The man is inviting us to bid for the lad,who’s in my opinion is a great striker,hopefully he’ll end up wearing our famous red shirt.
Ishaq,Aguero is Argie and Villa DOSENT want to leave Spain.
The man is inviting us to bid for the lad,who’s in my opinion a great striker,hopefully he’ll end up wearing our famous red shirt.
Ishaq,Aguero is Argie and Villa DOSENT want to leave Spain.
A classic example of whoreing. Blatantly trying to get a bidder war going. I rate the player highly, but his love of Madrid has put me off wanting him at United.
Benzema would be a great signing – a much better option than Tevez. I’d love to see him at OT.
That is as a blatant come and buy him plea as i have seen him. I don’t understand why Lyon don’t want to wait until the World Cup.Maybe they need cash.Well,i say make them a 30million offer.
Benzema is last available” goal scoring machine ” in the market ….couldnt find anyone else……
sod it, bite the bullet and buy him
well make the money back buying him now by selling him onto real madrid in the future
hes a quick, powerful forward who would do us proud
hed be a prolific goalscorer for us too
IT’S BE GREAT TO SEE BENZEMA IN THE UNITED KITSHE HAS A SCORING ABILITY AND LOOKING FOR SCORING ALL THE TIME
No one forget that he always claimed he ” loves Man utd”
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12876_3033179,00.html
I think Benzema is a much better option than Aguero or Villa. First of all, Villa is 27 years old and costs about the same as Benzema. Besides, he doesn’t want to leave Spain. Aguero is short and petite which could make it difficult for him because of the pace and harshness in the PL. Benzema is 21 years old, strong, good ball control and can head the ball from crosses which is probably what we need after Ronaldo’s departure. I think we’ll be seeing more of the good old crosses now, Ronaldo was prone to seek into the midfield of the pitch and try to get into a shooting position.
But I don’t want to pay more than 30 mills for Benzema, that’s for sure…
seems like this is the one wer getting this summer..
hes got the skillz and marketing appeal, unlike the other players wev been linked with (Ribery, valencia, and chadwick all on same level)
am excited about this but also very confused.. am sure none of us want him replacing rooney or berbatov(shut up) and i dont want fergie doin the merry go round he did last season with berbatov or karim becoming the new tevez..
cant we have all our on star perfomers on the pitch.. a star studded bench is something i dont wanna see next season.. the only attacking sub we should have is macheda..
Whats with people saying he loves madrid? dont believe everything you read
He is a big strong lad, great 2 feet, good in the air, and can play either flank as well as up top…
I cannot see where we would lose on this deal, coz even if he flopped we would always make the money back on him..
But i guarentee he would score more than 5 and set up more than 3, for which is what tevez achieved last season…
@mike
I noticed he didn’t mention Madrid. It seems his chairman Aulas keeps mentioning Madrid maybe to start a bidding war.
Even if he does come,we will still need to buy a winger(other than Valencia) and a goalscoring midfielder.
Having him and Valencia along with another left footed winger,will change our style of play completely .In fergie we trust.
He reminds me of the fat goofy Ronaldo when he was in his prime, so a good buy for United.
ha ha: http://therepublikofmancunia.com/dont-jump-on-the-benzema-bandwagon/
Tevez goes, Benzema in
Even though Benzema might still have to prove himself, I’ll make that switch anyday.
I’m all for Karim Benzema to don our Red shirt. What people seem to forget is, Benzema’s got much more class, morals and ethics than Ronaldo. He’s no Ronaldo. He would’nt do us over for the virus, no chance! I’m sure he’d stay for the forseeable future at the least. BENZEMA 7
I don’t care if he’s loyal or not.
Good if he is, but if he’s not, we’ll take 5 years of his time and sell him for 100mil to Real Madrid. I mean, it was 56mil for Zidane, it’s 80mil now, in 5 years time, I reckon 100mil is not too much of a dream.
This trick always works.
…and he looks a bit like Cantona
And definitely no more Argies for a while… please.
I agree, Argies just don’t seem to be in sync with our beloved club.
Lyon are hilarious, every day they come out with comments about selling Benzema & then go on to say “We’re not talking about selling Benzema”, they’re a shrewd crowd and always get top-dollar for their players.
Ishaq, Benzema is young, fast, strong, tall & has bags of potential. He is perfect for Utd, Villa is great but he’s 27 and 5ft 9, we need a target man. I predict Fergie will revert to width this year – bringing in Valencia, Silva (if he can) & Benzema.
I for one would be happy with the three of them.
Def sounds like Lyon want us to bid for this dude. Start with €20m.
Interesting
Great news – IF it’s true. This is the guy who will bring out the best in BOTH Rooney and Berbatov. He’s young, strong, big, fast, and skilful – on the ground with both feet and in the air. A genuine bulldozer so that Rooney and Berbatov can interchange “in the hole”.
IF he signs and stays for a few years then wants away – he’s not a Mancunian, don’t forget – then we’ve just seen that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. His value will only go up – unless he gets injured or everyone is wrong about his up-side ceiling.
Red Dave @ 16:05 has the right idea – “sod the cost, bite the bullet”. Those, like Gudjohnsen, who seem to think that you can buy a diamond ring on a market stall – “I wouldn’t pay more than 30 million for him” – are living in a world we have lost.
The economics of footie have changed. Live in the now, mate. UTD must win – MUST WIN – that’s written into their economic structure or what greedy, Gordon Gecko-style capitalists now call “a business plan”. ManUTD is not “your club” any more, it’s a capitalist entertainment enterprise with an annual turnover of something approaching 500 million quid – so the difference between 30 and 50 million quid is 20 million, which is only four per cent of the annual turnover. It’s piddle-shit in the big picture.
Benzema is the best available option to be the man-of-the-moment at the point of attack. Maybe Kiko Macheda will continue to grow and become TheNextOne, but maybe not. Live in the now. Negotiate but remember that the seller has the hammer because there are not many alternatives to Benzema on the world stage – Aguero is too small and under the malignant influence of his father-in-law, Maradona; David Villa is too old and so is Franck Ribery. Zlatan isn’t for sale; Samuel Eto’o claims to be 28 but Obafemi Martins claims to be 24 ! Maybe the Chilean sensation who plays for Udinese – but he’s more of a “winger” than a “bulldozer”. And, besides, Rooney will be TheMan if he can play “in the hole” – same with Berbatov.
Sign Benzema – then di Rossi and Gigi Buffon; that should take care of the eighty million from the Ronaldo sale and the twenty-five million that were earmarked for Tevez who thankfully wasn’t re-signed. Then, presto, the “NewUTD” should be ready to rock and roll.
If we were to sign him this could be his chant
“Benzema… who’s got the keys to my beeema – something, something”
What you think?
Would be a terrific signing, happily aboard the Benzema bandwagon. Don’t care about this supposed desire to play for Madrid – Ribery’s the same but others who snipe about Benzema are desperate to see us sign his countryman so I don’t see the issue.
I think he’s good enough that we can say the worst case scenario is that he does move to Madrid in a few years for a big profit. Better scenario? That he moves here, realises just what a terrific club it is (strange as it sounds I think some players need to actually join us to realise it) and sets down some roots.
DanS – don’t give up the day job mate
Let’s sign him and marko marin he plays with Monchengladbach in germany and he is better than valencia and his club wont ask for billions for him.he can play on the wings and as a midfielder . Look him up
I’m slightly more concerned over Rooney and Berba’s involvements if Benzema comes. Either that SAF keeps Rooney on the flank, which is out of position and that he has already spoken that he prefer the central role, or he has to keep Berbatov on the bench, in which case is somewhat a pity.
And he is young i guess 21
Good, I thought it was just me when I was wondering about how people or Argentine descent don’t seem to fit in the club.
I mean, Heinze, and then Heinze II…
But, I really do rate Aguero more than Benzema. Benzema flopped at the Euros. Granted, Aguero, I know nothing about other than FIFA09, but:
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1]
Not too short at all, really.
Against Benzema…
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Aguero, Silva, Valencia, and then next season, walk on with an eleven of:
EVDS, Rafael-Rio-Vida-Evra, Valencia-Carrick-Anderson-Silva, Aguero-Rooney
Berbatov as the superstar sub.
Or maybe if we didn’t buy Valencia, and played 4-3-3, with Berbatov on the pitch…
I can’t forget Ferdinand and Vidic fear of him when we played Lyon last time so I’d say ‘Yes’ to Benzema any time at any price.
UNITEDGIRL
thanks for the compliment (name)
I’ll be patient
i read in the papers today that fergie was bidding 45mil for villa
dont kno hw true it is
i just think signing ribery first before we start any other names wud be better
we already hav strikers we just need that extra pace
and based on the videos ive seen and the one scott posted
Ribery= Ronaldo
the only difference wud be height
@Rooney’s turn to EAT
sir alex is on holiday for another 8 days so i dont know how true many of these stories are
Benzema is probably one of the few strikers in the world who is available AND can replace the goals scored by Ronaldo. He is big and strong and tall and skillful. I remember how Rio and Vida stood off him a few years ago. And if he wants to move to Real Madrid in 5 years time who cares? Atleast we would potentially be able to sell him on for more money than we initially paid for him.
Ribery is over priced and would have a low resale value.
Villa is too older, over priced, short in height, and would have a low resale value.
Aguero is an Argentinian. I’d rather not have Heinze III.
In terms of requirements on the wing.
Aren’t Nani, Tosic, Anderson, Giggs, Macheda, Welbeck enough?
We already have the youth in the team to play in the first team.
Give them a chance.
the assist from tevez was the one that gave berbatov the winner yes? i will miss him but hes just here for the money so get away from OT
fuck tevez
the 2 important winners he got this season(how we won the league busby bless mutv) need to be seen
who took the ball down in both goals with a perfect first time and made a pin point pass in both of them to add to another assist
never got behind tevez
and ive said it many times fuck any fan who shouted over sir alexs end of season speach when i was in old trafford and i couldnt hear a word
i got pissed at the player for his disrespect to sir alex
but for anyone who who backed up a dick like that to inturn disrespect sir alex needs to get himself in check
@Macheda is GOD
i hope we are cool and my post earlier was all in jest and was takin up wrong as i seen when spanky replyed
your name gets on my wick but so does rooneys name
ill never get to name my son wayne
but it doesnt stop me loving the guy
As mentioned before, dont believe comments about wanting to play for certain clubs.
You find when players do interviews with other Nations press, they always mention a club in that country and the player always gives a nice response.
Ive heard many utd players give interviews in Spanish or Italian papers and say they wouldnt rule out a moveto Madrid or Milan etc.
Benzema is my number one target, but unfortunatley for me, I dont pick the team r the targets.
Benzema would be a cross between Cantona, Zidane and Rooney.
@Tufty
“Benzema would be a cross between Cantona, Zidane and Rooney.”
WOW
rooney passes to benzema benzema outpaces skrtel and pulls it back for nani to score. what a goal by man utd.
nani ?
well yea he will play on the right wing and come inside like ronaldo
obviously the triangle play between evra benzema and rooney is going to be something to behold
Why spend £30-40m on a player with a voiced desire to play for Real Madrid? In 12 months time do we really wanna go through the ‘Its my dream to play for Madrid’ B.S. all over again? I’m not saying we should steer clear of anyone who isn’t clearly a United fan but I do think we should steer clear of someone who has said over and over that they want to go to Madrid.
god damn it i hate real madrid. why do players like them? their stadium is shit their fans always waving white cumkerchief and their board is like the gay pride parade.
whats the news on david silva ? anyone know
i mean valencia need money and he is a bit talented isnt he david silva?
instead of ribery we get him and benzidane we shud be sorted and we can enjoy a goal fest at old trafford against brum on the opening day.
Bernard Lacombe should be reported to UEFA for tapping us up! I have my own opinion of Benzema but think you have to trust Fergie’s judgement on this one. It is well documented that he has had Benzema on his radar for a couple of years now so what difference would my humble opinion make. Just getting pissed off with being fucked over by foreign players who think that being temperamental and petulant and giving the obligatory ‘who knows where I will play in the future’ or ‘ I don’t like the food, women, weather over here’ etc. interview to the newspapers and magazines of their
native countries.Have no reason to believe Karim Benzema would be any different.But, as previous posters have said, if he was a hit at Utd, he could always be sold on at a profit if he started moaning.
Tufty
‘Benzema would be a cross between Cantona, Zidane and Rooney’ ??????
Is that why we seem to be the only club showing any interest in him.Even his beloved Real Madrid are now looking at Ibrahimavich now that the David Villa deal has stalled rather than Benzema.
Put things into perspective, he scores 20 odd goals a season for Lyon in a league that is far inferior to the English Premier,Serie A, Budesliga and Spanish Segunda and all of a sudden we looking at a man with the combined talents of three of the best ever European players.
To the people that think Benzema only wants Real Madrid, you are mistaken. He has always been very open about the different clubs who he’d love to sign for and he always includes us. Believe me though, this guy will be huge for United. I’ve been harping on about him to freinds for two years now!
Get him into Old Trafford, idolise him like we did Cantona and he’ll be in love with the club. Just look at Evra…the guy would die for United.
Anyways, a little comment from a magazine:
Karim was asked ‘What about the Premier League? Manchester United are said to have kept an eye on you for a long time’ he replied ‘ I love english football, and when I watch it, it’s just to see the Red Devils. Definately they are my favourite team…’
leetguy101 @ 17:25 – I don’t believe that info on Aguero, unless there is a new system to measure height. Aguero is about the same height at Messi, Tevez, and Javier Saviola – 5’5″, give or take. Diego Armando Maradona was about 5’2″ So height is not the only consideration but Aguero is NO Maradona even if he’s the son-in-law.
yea aguero is only 174 cm
Love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzkresBOxnQ&feature=related
Right coupleof points 1st. I din’t bel;ieve we will sign anyone until July.
1. haven’t got the money form CRap7 yet
2. God is still on Hols
3. Finacial year starts for United on 1st July.
Macheda, Wellbeck and Anderson aren’t wingers. Neither was Scholes or Fletcher or Rooney but SAf has played them there.
Yes we do need another winger. Giggs is getting to the end of his careers, Tosic is as yet unproven, Nani was a disappointment(but I will allow himmthe 2nd season thing)
Rooney and Berba both like to drop off and are not true Centre forwards neither was that little turd Tevez fuck him. So I still think we have been lacking a true leader of the line(but we have none alright without one for last two season). So please god no1 ask for Zlatan, the guy is pure shite. Watched him for years when he was at Ajax and now Inter. Yes odd match he was incredible but there were too many in between were he was crap. Eto’o yes I like him but at £200,000 per week I don’t think soand a African 29? I’d go for Benzema. young mean good pace true CF scores goals. We would all like Torres now but ladyboy’s goalscorinbg in La Liga was pretty poor.
Personally I’d like SAF to retire with a couple more CLs in his pocket to add the greatest manager in the CL history to his CV! With that in mind Id like him to sign Ribery and fuck his resale value. David Silva why? He is mostly HYPE like Joaquim was. Edeb Hazard looks like 1 for the future. Speaking of which I think we have some stunning Talent coming true. Watch oiut for Petrucci, Morrison, Norwood, King,
I still disagree, Huntelaar, Aguero. There are many better options then Benzema. Benzema is above average. Aguero is MAGIC!
Ishaq – Ageuro? No chance mate. I for one am sick to death of these fuckin argies. Coupled with the fact his father in law is the fat drug cheat. Get in Benzema, just the sort of player United need right now. Big, strong, powerful, both footed and can score goals. Another Gaellic legend in the making. Albeit of Algerian descent.
Oh lord wont you buy me a Benzema Benz. Ronaldo sold his Portia I must make amends. To Janice Joplin
i would rather sign Eto’o
we need someone to replace Ronaldo goals
Benzema can do that but not on his first season
and Karim would block Macheda’s and Wellbeck’s chances
Eto’o simply would prove us with the goals we need and by the time he loses his football skills our young strikers would have matured enough
god i hope one of the spainish twats pays shitoads for Zlatan preferably madrid perferably about £80 million
@ghtt
u sure? i cud have sworn saf wud be back this monday
anyways, i really am desperate for ribery
The News of the world say that we will make a 25 million bid for Benzema.I don’t think Lyon will accept this.They will probably ask for 35 million.
Ben-Fucking-Zema NOW !!!!
I reckon this kid is wasting in france. get him here and he will take off like Torres. Less the injuries cuz being French Algerian he is tough unlike that cross dressing spanish poof.
The transfer season starts on 1st July and finishes on 31st August. No player registration form can be completed before then. Look what ‘Pool did. They announced to the world that they’d signed Glenn Johnson ( they hadn’t really – only had an agreement with Pompey) and along comes Chelsea and offers him more money.So ‘Pool lose out.
Fergie’s not going to make the same mistake – he may have players lined up with their clubs expecting an offer on 1st July. Maybe this is the case with David Silva and Benzema.
Remember 2 weeks ago the Sporting Lisbon people were at OT – discussing Moutinho to OT with Nani going to Sporting on loan for a year. Maybe Fergie would like Velosi. Interesting that both Silva and Velosi are not in the news much these days whilst during the past 6 months both have been subject to transfer gossip as it seems their clubs want to sell them.
However, all the action will start on the 1st July and we’ll see what David Gill has been up to whilst Fergie was on holiday.
“Ben-Fucking-Zema NOW !!!!
I reckon this kid is wasting in france. get him here and he will take off like Torres. Less the injuries cuz being French Algerian he is tough unlike that cross dressing spanish poof.”
Just laughing my BALLS off at this comic!!!
I think there’s a lot more going on with out transfers than meets the eye.The Valencia deal is still some way off happening becaus we won’t go over 12mil.Whilst we could be waiting for the Ronaldo deal to be finalised,i don’t know why the team hasn’t made one single transfer.Remember that we never got an announcement that the 80mil would eb invested on the club.It was just an “insider’s” statement.At the moment,all we are doing is sitting on our butts as some players agree with other teams while for others the price gets higher.
Costas – Wait till Sir Alex gets back from the South of France. I would not be surprised to see two or three signings announced at the same time. Then again we know what he is like, he may well have enough trust in the young ones. This could ultimately mean us missing out on the league next season. However the “business” now demands results and with Sir Alex’s age against him can he afford to wait two or three seasons? I think not, therefore I am sure there will be new signings!
I’m excited about this summer and it’s possibilities in terms of signings,but I have enough faith in the kids if Sir Alex decides to take that path.
PS:If you don’t understand what I’m saying,sorry.I’m not able to put into words my thoughts.I myself don’t understand what I said,so that’s why the post-script.
I hope so, but i don’t think we need him at Manchester to make propositions to other clubs?In 2007, i have heard that he told Gill to go to Portugal and sign Anderson and Nani while he went on vacation.I am not saying that he should have signed Ribery is SAF’s absence, but at least the Valencia deal should have been dealt with by now.Well,today reports say that we will make an offer for Benzema.Lets see.As i said,maybe we are waiting for Ronaldo to officially sign for Real.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5393996,00.html
Look at that.Ronnie’s taking the blame for this entire episode.Pretty big of him.
His a prat! Far from the “Manchester United great” that he hopes he is!
‘Benzema would be a cross between Cantona, Zidane and Rooney’ no way. Benzema is effectively much more of a (fat) Ronaldo or another Torres.
And while he’s strong, its not like Rooney and C.Ronaldo we’rent so he may fit in the system. But he definitely has the goal scoring instinct that Berbatov sometimes seems to lack.
Also I have to say that I virtually witnessed Benzema say that his dream move is to Real Madrid.
I saw him on TV and he was relating an occasion that he was telling his mom that:
“One day I’ll play for Real Madrid!!!”
Sounds vaguely familiar.
But I’m still pro Benzema, as some mentioned, he might come to United and set his roots at OT.
WHAT WILL B THE FORMATION ?
Pesonally …i think benzema will b a good signing for any club in the world..where manu need him the most.THis will b due to the lack of galaticos in the team.MAnchester can easily get him for 30m..but the problem is that the team which is shortlacked in midfireld will b having strikers rooney(70 m ), berbatov(30m),benzema(30m).
THE REAL QUESTION?
so what will b the formation and how can they setup a top class midfield comparing to the stagerring barcelona.
if that promblem is solved then the midfield really needs players who can hold the game as well as net the goals. At the same time manu cant wait too long in bielieving tosic , and,nani,
so manchester must try to manke berba as the same one when he was in tottenham as a first striker ..so rooney can easily support him.SO NOW here is the real deal…buy the top class(really top) midfielders and player who can cover injury prone hargreves.
reduce giving chance to giggs,oshea,scholes(with all respects) and develope tosic,nani ,maceda ,welbeck.
i dont agree giving players as loans to other club as it affects their morality.
we have to make their bloods really red.
so
try to buy players:
daniel derossi or…..yaytoure
david silva(a special one)
snieder(a real class)
robben or valencia0r asley young
edin dezko or huntelaar(cover for top guns),vucinic
the best one higuian(the star for madrid last season)
We should get him. IT’s the one player we should go hard. With Tevez leaving, i’m even more certain.
Then we go for Davi Silva and Alexis Sanchez. Costa and Valencia are appearing to be done deals. Would be wonderful, but…
We could go yet for Sneijder (IT’s a Fire Sale… C’mon), Hamsik (Maybe the last chance to get him for a fair price) and/or use the buy back clause on Rossi.
We got lots of options, but we should move fast.