The French national team doesn't quite work normally though, does it? With that fruitcake Domenech in charge - doesn't he pick players by their star sign as opposed to their ability or form?
Karim Benzema
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I think some are about to commit suicide
I've just read through the last 5 or 6 pages of this and i get the feeling a lot of people are trying to convince themsleves that we're going to sign the lad.
I'd love us to sign him, he's young and talented and probably well suited to our team. However I've seen all this hype before about players some of us have thought would be perfect for us - but we've very rarely ended up signing the player.
As much as i'd love it to happen I sadly can't see it.
I'd love us to sign him, he's young and talented and probably well suited to our team. However I've seen all this hype before about players some of us have thought would be perfect for us - but we've very rarely ended up signing the player.
As much as i'd love it to happen I sadly can't see it.
See it now?
We've been interested in the lad for a few seasons now. We've got a massive amount of money available to us, with 2 senior players leaving. Lyon could do with the money and haven't dismissed the idea of selling (they are after all a selling club). This is more likely than Villa/Eto and he fits into the team perfectly.
We lost out on Torres, we shouldn't miss out on this lad as well.
infairness though we've never had 80+ million to spend before
We 'missed out on' Torres because he turned us down two years in a row and Atletico didn't sell.
Hardly our fault that he wanted to go to Liverpool.
We still missed out on him though, no matter how you dress it up.
Naturally we can't sign all the worlds talents but we have to learn from our mistakes and letting Benzema slip through our fingers when Lyon look like they want to cash in would be a mistake long term imo.
If we don't sign him this window I think he'll be joining Barca/Real next summer after the World Cup probably for another 8-10 million.
It's not news as such but Benzema has made it fairly clear that
a: His preferred next step is moving to a club in La Liga
b: He wants to stay at Lyons for one more season, for guaranteed regular football leading up to WC 2010 (when, presumably, he reckons his profile will be raised high enough to get the offers from Spain he is looking for)
You can to that the Aulas thing and the fact that Lyon are notoriously hard to bargain with when it comes to big money transfers.
All of which makes it fairly fecking unlikely he's signing for United this summer, or indeed ever.
IMHO.
But it wasn't a mistake by us! We did what we could to get him and it just wasn't happening.
I'm sure we're doing our best to get Benzema again but if he doesn't wat to come, or they don't want to sell, it won't be our mistake.
Lyon has bid £18m for Porto's striker Lisandro Lopes which is on the verge of being accepted, and another one for PSG's Guillaume Hoarau, this time around £8m which was quickly refused.
This does not mean Benzema is to leave (this summer) as Lyon were anyway in need of a forward to help Benzema not feeling lonely up front.
This does not mean Benzema is to leave (this summer) as Lyon were anyway in need of a forward to help Benzema not feeling lonely up front.
Is that why lyon are inviting offers from United then?
If he's hell-bent on going to Spain or staying in Lyon, then why are we wasting our time? We should be focusing on other players before they all get picked off and we cant exactly afford that considering half our attack has buggered off.
Even if we do tempt him I dont think I can stomach another "I dream of Madrid" moment.
Even if we do tempt him I dont think I can stomach another "I dream of Madrid" moment.
i'd say you're right. Still i have that gut feeling there is something going on.
Whilst it doesn't mean that Benzema is automatically leaving, you would think that it could potentially pave the way.
As Striker10 says, both Lyon and Benzema's agent have been inviting specifically a United offer over the past day or two.
It would be risky for Benzema to put all his eggs in the WC10 basket. Hoping that his stock rises there and that Madrid and Barca start sniffing around him. France are no great shakes at the moment and Benzema is not even a guaranteed starter in the side.
I understand that his preference may be to go to Spain, but when United bids for you, surely you don't turn it down if you have the profile of Benzema.
no we didnt!!!!Fergie said as much himself, The boy was never coming to this club or words to that effect.
Only Benzema himself knows where he wants to play football next. He never says he wants to play in La Liga, he actually always says he likes Real Madrid and Barca, but he has also mentioned United more than once.
It is just that when a player mentions United everyone says it is bullshit and ignores it.
And as someone posted above, why is Lyon coming out with all these comments about if United bid they probably would sell?
I think SAF is at least interested and has contacted Lyon at some stage.
If we win as many trophies in that period, whilst making another 68m profit, I won't mind at all.
There have been a lot of, "I want to play for Madrid or Barca" quotes from camp-Benzema. By the same token, they have seemingly invited interest from United as well. I think he is trying to hedge his bets.
If they'd gotten Hoarau as well I think Benzema would seem likely to leave, or even if they just got Hoarou, because I can't see them two working well up front together.
Lisandro Lopez and Benzema looks like a quality partnership though.
We have £80m burning a hole in our pockets. Of course they're inviting interest from us. Whether he'd actually join us when push came to shove is another matter-my gut says no.
Actually nobody knows why they bid for Hoarau as they were sure their bid would be refused.
It is understood they just wished Hoarau would take advantage of the situation to increase his wage demands as he is currently negotiating a new contract. I don't know how much this is true but I remember they did a similar thing with Pedro Pauleta three years ago while he was negotiating a new contract. He ended up exploding PSG's wage budget.
I'd pretty much agree with this.
For what it's worth I believe we'll see all our summer business completed on one day, and SAF will no doubt surprise us all much like he did when the Anderson & nani deals we're announced pretty much out of the blue.
Yeah, by the same token, City has endless supplies of cash. Madrid have been spending money like it is going out of fashion. There hasn't been any invitations for these teams to bid.
I know we are speculating. But we know we are in the market for a class forward. At this stage of his career, it is likely that Benzema wants to better himself. We know Ferguson likes Benzema. We have money to spend.
Allied to these factors is the fact that Lyon haven't been as bullish as they usually are in their public statements about how much they will demand. It seems that they will settle for between £30-40 million.
Really? I'd never heard of something like that being done before, it's quite a devious plan if true.
Do you think Hoarou would've been a good siging for Lyon though? I know he's had a great season this year, but I've not been that impressed with him generally whenever I've seen him. Not sure he can repeat last season's form.
As a fan of PSG I must say I was delighted to see this unknown player (although he scored 28 in Ligue 2 the previous year) come up and become such a goalscoring machine.
But indeed he reached his peak, and I doubt he'll ever score as many goals as this season where the whole team was set up for him. Besides being exceptional at Paris is just enough to be effective at Lyon, hence I think just like you.
That still doesn't make Benzema more experienced.
I'm surprised people place so much importance upon a player's international reputation and record. The game is littered with forwards who excel in the international arena (Crouch and Healy to name two) and yet would underwhelm if they were any where near a top club.
By the same token, there are and have been plenty of top club strikers who don't get a look in at international level.
By the same token, there are and have been plenty of top club strikers who don't get a look in at international level.
Ohhh, you're a fan of PSG?
Tell me, is they hype around Mamadou Sakho justified? Does he look like he'll become a top centre back?
It's not that much the international experience, but considering you're about to offer a 21-year-old 60 million euros, you want SOME guarantee he's made for the big games. I'd say Benzema is a bigger gamble than Kaká for the same amount of money..
The fact is there are a few players we could be interested in. That's the first point. The second is does anyone think Barcalona regret buying Ronaldo even though he was only there for a season?
Benezema has mentioned he prefers the 'tactics' there (spain) and he isn't keen on the way teams play here - but I don't think it'd be enough for him turn United down if we did want him
It is world cup year but he would have to have a real shit year, which ofcourse is possible, not to get selected. He also knows with Ronaldo gone, tevez gone - he will get games
I think if we're interested, we know they're willing to sell, we know we have the money and therefore it's just a matter of convincing the player that he can do it in the premiership and that the premiership would be right for him
It didn't hurt henry for example. People talk about it being all about pace, power etc here. Technical players can make it here and the quality still means it's one of the best leagues in the world.
Benezema has mentioned he prefers the 'tactics' there (spain) and he isn't keen on the way teams play here - but I don't think it'd be enough for him turn United down if we did want him
It is world cup year but he would have to have a real shit year, which ofcourse is possible, not to get selected. He also knows with Ronaldo gone, tevez gone - he will get games
I think if we're interested, we know they're willing to sell, we know we have the money and therefore it's just a matter of convincing the player that he can do it in the premiership and that the premiership would be right for him
It didn't hurt henry for example. People talk about it being all about pace, power etc here. Technical players can make it here and the quality still means it's one of the best leagues in the world.
Yep as I said I went through over 25+ Videos to find the good ones and posted 6 of them.. 2 of them were matches against top sides just for all people to see how he does against the bigger oppositions as well..
As for the quality I am quite certain I wrote that all the Videos must be watched in HQ as they were of very bad quality..
We were actually too late on that one according to SAF iirc.. He said that we bid for him but an offer from Tottenham had already been accepted and he too had accepted Tottenham's terms..
Wouldn't his Champions League experience be an indicator of that though?
Definitely. To me he's the third most promising centre-back in Europe after Jonny Evans and Neven Subotic.
His main asset is he has been given first-team football early in his career (captaining PSG at 17 until Makelele took it over) so that he was able to improve dramatically in the past few years.
Unfortunately he still lacks a bit of pace but he really is classy.
In 2004 we tried to sign Torres. Toni Munoz (technical director) told the press that Torres was not for sale at any price after United became interested in signing him.
Fergie said as much himself, The boy was never coming to this club or words to that effect.
In 2006 we again tried to sign Torres (25million offer), the Ruud transfer dragged on for too long (he was reluctant to goto Bayern), we even offered Silvestre as a player + cash transfer.
In 2007 he signed for Liverpool, which seemed to be the best deal for him.
We were always interested in Torres, who wouldn't be. By the time Athletico were willing to cash in, Liverpool became interested having got the funds from the Americans and being a Liverpool supporter it was natural he'd join them.
According to Wiki Benzema has played 24 times for Les Bleus, not eight matches as some are saying.
He's scored 6 goals, against Austria, Faroe Islands (2), Sweden, Tunisia and Turkey (pen). Not extremely impressive I must say.
He's scored 6 goals, against Austria, Faroe Islands (2), Sweden, Tunisia and Turkey (pen). Not extremely impressive I must say.
But equally, if Lyon know that Benzema would reject a move to us then why bother talking about us. The money is only theirs to spend if he signs.
Either that or they are hoping that an offer from us would force Madrid to move a year earlier than they would want.
The national team hasn't been impressive of late though to be fair.
To be honest he's quite clearly got some thing about him in terms of ability and talent. If there's a chance we could get him, I'd fighting tooth and nail for him now.
Absolutely, he's one of the very few available top class strikers around.
The other ones are Eto'o and... er....
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