I’ve seen him play a couple of times and I can tell you he’s regularly at this level (ask Rangers !)

Just has a class of its own. Strong, quick, technically gifted, real scorer attitude, loves pressure. Can score from close or far, left or right, hard or softly. Can pass. Scored some free kicks (though he usually doesn’t have them when Juninho is there).

Simply the most exciting striker since young Ronaldo… with real knees.

Lyon have recently slapped a $45 million tag on him which would shatter the previously paid price for a striker. Now, you can well argue that Benzema is worth 2, or possibly 3 Sheva’s…but can we honestly pour that much into a player who has repeatedly said he doesn’t have the desire to play for Utd ?

Things might change in the summer, and I’m glad that we are looking at this kid as Berba isn’t what Utd need (too old, too much of a primadonna). Neither is Huntaleer who is ponderous and slow and scores in a league where the likes of Kezmen and Kujt were considered successes.

Benzema has the physical stature and the skills that would perfectly complement our attacking options. He seems fearless when he runs at defenders and fits the ball cleanly and with purpose. I’m sure there will be a host of clubs vying for his signature and we could possibly face the likes of Arsenal, Real and AC Milan to land him.

Personally, I would put Saha and 20 million up for the lad, but anything more is just lunacy. Yes, he’s a good buy…but 3 times the price we paid for Ronaldo good? Hmm…I dunno bout that.

For that amount of money, you{d have to think that he{s being lined up for Real Madrid (to replace Van Nistelrooy or Raul).

Like Manucho, Sir Alex Ferguson does tend to land players who are not being surrounded by hype and ones that are often unexpected by the fans and media. Nani and Anderson came in right out of the blue.

There are plenty of great forwards in the world and I’m not sure if we were going to spend 30 million he’d be the player to get. The best thing about Benzema apart from his talent is his age, a potential to grow with a young team like United. Or even Arsenal (FRANCE). However, the thing that obviously makes or breaks a player is if he wants to play for a team. Players like Evra, Vidic, Rooney all love United and you can see that passion on the pitch, if Benzema wanted a dream move for around 17-20 million then it would be a great catch and another step in the right direction proving United can attract the brightest young talents in Europe.

Aulas, the guy who owns Olympique Lyonnais (or is the chairman-spokesman) is a tough bargainer so you´d have to expect that he would command (and get) a very, very large price for Benzema, who is on his way to being classed as “the best striker in the world”.

So, I would imagine that he would hold out for at least thirty million quid for this guy, if not more. And he wants cold, hard cash because Lyons need to money to build a new stadium.

We’ve been told that the Glazers would stump up that kind of money for a “world class” player of a quality similar to Rooney or Ronaldo.

Also, I am wondering if geting Benzema would mean that the lend-lease deal for Tevez would be scrapped.

In the game itself, a 1-1 draw is a good away result.

However, as hattrick says, we will need to pull out all the stops to get him. As Fergie has remarked, a chairman who negotiated 20mil for Mahamadou Diarra, (who would be competing with Darren Fletcher for status as our 5th choice centre mid) is likely to demand a high price for Benzema. You already wrote an article detailing these extortionate price tags.

Still, let’s go for it. He is younger and faster than Berbatov, with a much better attitude, so if people were willing to spend 30mil on the Berb, then let’s at least try for Benzema! (Give them some Frenchies as part of the deal- Saha and Silvestre)