Puneet Singh
Just when I thought Manchester United were going to sign their guy for the summer transfer window, what goes off and happens? Good Ol' Florentino Perez steps in and decides to play some real life FIFA manager mode.
With the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Alvaro Negredo, Raul Albiol and Kaka under his belt, Perez may have just signed the best long term piece of them all.
The player? None other than Karim Benzema.
The announcement was made official by Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas, stating that Lyon had accepted the 35 million euro bid from Real Madrid with it potentially becoming 41 million euros based on performance bonuses. Benzema will pen a six year deal to ply his trade at the Santiago Bernabeau.
Adding Benzema now gives Real Madrid a strike force of Raul, Gonzalo Higuain, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and now Negredo (who's buy back option was exercised) and Benzema.
With Van Nistelrooy on his way out and Huntelaar looking to be loaned out or sold, this strike force remains deadly and young with Higuain, Benzema and Negredo all expected to be given bigger roles.
What did United do? Or a better question is, what DIDN'T they do?
Rumors were circulating like flies all over the press with comments ranging from "Benzema to United 90% complete" to "Benzema Wants United." When it was 1st leaked that Real had approached Lyon with a 32 million euro bid for Benzema, reports were surfacing that United were ready to splash 45 million euros for Benzema. But nothing ever materialized beyond that, and now the deal is sealed with Real.
My belief is this; United more than likely never even tabled a bid for Benzema, and it hurts me that they lost out on a fine gem. Chalk another one up to the wizardry of Zidane; this time from his political role.
Where does Benz fit? Well he is a centre-forward with the skillset to play up front as the lone striker. Depending on how Manuel Pellegrini decides to utilize Benzema, he may be lining up next to Higuain in a 4-4-2 or in front of Kaka in a 4-2-3-1; both of which are Pellegrini's preferred systems.
With Negredo, Benzema and Higuain, Madrid have the best bunch of young strikers the world could possibly put together. Within the next two years, we may just remove that word "young" from the previous statement, as Madrid may have put together the best strike force since 2005 when Juventus boasted Del Piero, Trezeguet, Mutu, Ibrahimovic, Di Vaio and Miccoli.
Rumors were circulating like flies all over the press with comments ranging from "Benzema to United 90% complete" to "Benzema Wants United." When it was 1st leaked that Real had approached Lyon with a 32 million euro bid for Benzema, reports were surfacing that United were ready to splash 45 million euros for Benzema. But nothing ever materialized beyond that, and now the deal is sealed with Real.
My belief is this; United more than likely never even tabled a bid for Benzema, and it hurts me that they lost out on a fine gem. Chalk another one up to the wizardry of Zidane; this time from his political role.
Where does Benz fit? Well he is a centre-forward with the skillset to play up front as the lone striker. Depending on how Manuel Pellegrini decides to utilize Benzema, he may be lining up next to Higuain in a 4-4-2 or in front of Kaka in a 4-2-3-1; both of which are Pellegrini's preferred systems.
With Negredo, Benzema and Higuain, Madrid have the best bunch of young strikers the world could possibly put together. Within the next two years, we may just remove that word "young" from the previous statement, as Madrid may have put together the best strike force since 2005 when Juventus boasted Del Piero, Trezeguet, Mutu, Ibrahimovic, Di Vaio and Miccoli.
Who's going to score the most goals out of the Madrid bunch? Who knows. What I DO know is that it's going to be an absolute beauty watching three forwards under the age of 24 hit and play the peak and primes of their careers at the Bernabeau.
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