Author: Ben Moss
Posted on: 01 July 2009 - 15:38
La Liga expert Graham Hunter and regular on Sky Sports’ ‘Revista de la Liga’, believes Real Madrid have beaten Manchester United to the signing of Lyon ace Karim Benzema, despite the French club strenuously denying any deal has been formalised.
Reports last night indicated Manchester United were in the driving seat for the 21-year-old France international, however news from Spain suggested today that Real Madrid had confirmed a deal in principle with Lyon, only for the club to deny such claims.
The esteemed journalist does however believe a deal is imminent, despite Manchester United holding talks with Lyon and the player over the last two days.
Hunter told Sky Sports News: “My understanding is that Real Madrid have offered £6million more than Manchester United were willing to pay for Benzema and they will be suffering because there is no doubt that in the last 48 hours they have been negotiating not only with Lyon but with the player, and the player was perfectly happy to go to Old Trafford.”
“Every player has a value, in the current times particularly.”
“You have to be careful about how much you're willing to spend on a guy who is still going to grow.”
“He is a France international who was French Ligue One top scorer in 2007/08, but he is still only 21."
“Benzema is a guy Real Madrid have offered a contract for six years so when you look at the way in which the deals for Kaka, Ronaldo and now Benzema have been done you can see they are planning for a long future,”
Although Hunter believes the deal is all but done, Lyon director Olivier Blanc told L'Equipe: “We certainly did receive an offer of a sum appreciably superior to the sum that has been mentioned, but nothing says that it comes from Real. There is no agreement with anyone.”
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/22571/La_Liga_expert_Real_have_beaten_United_to_Benzema_.aspx
