Karim Benzema

Realistically I think he would be the best striker we could buy. Not having to do so much work for C.Ronaldo & Bale I think we could see more of what he was like at Lyon. Wenger is meant to be a big fan and think he could get the best out of him.
 
JazzG said:
Realistically I think he would be the best striker we could buy. Not having to do so much work for C.Ronaldo & Bale I think we could see more of what he was like at Lyon. Wenger is meant to be a big fan and think he could get the best out of him.
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In the last four seasons he has played 197 games, scored 102 goals and got 58 assists.
big quick and technically gifted - I think he would smash it in the pl
would be a great signing for Wenger and at 26 years old he could give you years of service
 
As this season has shown in a more attacking set up and with the coaches confidence he can thrive. I see no reason why he couldn't be a 30+ goal scorer for us. Giroud has 21 already this season! He'll get plenty of chances here, that is for sure

Like you say he does set up a lot of goals as well which could help the likes of Ramsey & Theo
 
If the backpage of the Sun is to be believed Suarez is off to Real in the summer so Benzema will be available. Wenger would help him to fulfil the potential he showed at Lyon.
 
I would absolutely expect Real to go hard after Suarez in the summer and would not be at all surprised if Benzema goes to Arsenal, especially with Morata and Jese needing more games.
 
I reckon Aguero would be their first choice but injury problems and negotiating a price with City means Suarez is the easier player to sign. He's had an incredible season and if rumours are true a watertight buyout clause. I don't know how keen Aguero is join them but Suarez would probably not turn down the chance.

Something you have to expect from these players from Spanish/Portuguese speaking countries, doesn't matter how well you do they all wanna play for Barca or R.Madrid!
 
Ronaldo, Suarez, Bale, Modric, Di Maria. That would be insane.

Benzema would be the perfect striker for Arsenal. Ramsey, Özil and Walcott would benefit so much from him.
 
He scored 66 in 148 for Lyon, reaching 30 goals in one season for them(7 of those in French cup). He scored 111 in 230 for Madrid, reaching 30 just once for them too. He has 19 in 65 for France(last year he went through period of more than year without scoring for them(1222 minutes)). This year he has same number of league goals as Alexis Sanchez(who wasn't even first choice for Barcelona for good period of this season), and he is first choice for Madrid without anyone serious even competing him for the spot. I don't see any reason why he would be safe bet to score 30 for Arsenal in one season.

I like him as a player, his all around play is excellent(altough he can be lazy quite often), but his finishing and poaching never improved from his early days, and you can't blame just Ronaldo for that when his record for France is poor too. He scored 20 league goals just twice in his career.
 
peterstorey said:
If the backpage of the Sun is to be believed Suarez is off to Real in the summer so Benzema will be available. Wenger would help him to fulfil the potential he showed at Lyon.
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He hasn't fulfilled his potential at Real? I know he sort of hit a roadblock over there, but >40 goals + assists in the last 4 seasons says a lot about him.
 
Also Benzema has one year left on his contract so he isn't gonna go for £42m like Ozil. Reckon around £30m
 
coolredwine said:
He hasn't fulfilled his potential at Real? I know he sort of hit a roadblock over there, but >40 goals + assists in the last 4 seasons says a lot about him.
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Yeah he should be in the same bracket as Suarez, Aguero, Falcao and co, I don't think he's got there with Real.
 
He, he, we don't even want van Persie back. Smalling I'd happily take if you don't rate him.
 
AngeloHenriquez said:
Then we strongly disagree, 17 from 32 this season isn't what I'd describe as "only not doing a good job by their standards", that's not a brilliant return for a striker in one of the big 2 in the Spanish league. Not only that, but it's constantly cited that he goes missing in bigger games. I'm not saying he has been awful, he's been "ok", no more, no less. RM didn't expect in 4 years that they bought him, and played him as their main striker that he'd barely average 1 in every 2... I'm a fan of the boy and I realise Ronaldo skews him but he hasn't been a success at Madrid.
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1 in 2 is successful for anyone who isn't Messi or Ronaldo.
 
Pippa said:
I think he has gotten worse over time, IMO. When he was with OL he was the main threat and he was always more direct with his style. He was much more explosive and looked like he had a spring in his step. After his first season he has never been able to reach the same speed; a lot of it had to do with his weight gain from 2010 after his injuries, I bet. Benz was sent to a fat camp in 2011 and since then he has gotten better with his technique and team-play but he's become way more passive in the final third. It's better for the team because it's not like he can be alpha with Bale and Cristiano playing with him.

There's been no serious talk about a potential transfer. He has a family in Madrid but I think he might be influenced by Zidane's departure. I don't think there's a better forward out there who can play his role to a higher level than Benz anyways.
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Zidane has left Madrid?
 
sizzling sausages said:
What else do you want me to say exactly? You're being harsh on him by saying that it isn't good enough when most of the top strikers have a similar record.
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I never said he wasn't good enough, I said he hasn't been a success by Madrid standards in a team with one conventional striker, there are mitigating circumstances, I don't believe he doesn't have the ability, merely that the team never played to him being the biggest amongst a few reasons.
 
Amar__ said:
I like him as a player, his all around play is excellent(altough he can be lazy quite often), but his finishing and poaching never improved from his early days, and you can't blame just Ronaldo for that when his record for France is poor too. He scored 20 league goals just twice in his career.
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I wouldn't call getting over 20 a season twice as a bad record, when he did this at the age of 20-22 in France...
 
AngeloHenriquez said:
I never said he wasn't good enough, I said he hasn't been a success by Madrid standards in a team with one conventional striker, there are mitigating circumstances, I don't believe he doesn't have the ability, merely that the team never played to him being the biggest amongst a few reasons.
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They haven't played to him being the biggest because they have the 2nd best player in the world there. That's no slight on Benzema. He is also a great foil for Ronaldo and Bale and has a decent record in the big games.
 
DanS1994 said:
Rumoured to be leaving at the end of the season from what I've seen.

_________

I'd love to see Benzema at Arsenal, especially if Man City or Liverpool lost their star strikers in the process.
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Cheers.
 
sizzling sausages said:
They haven't played to him being the biggest because they have the 2nd best player in the world there. That's no slight on Benzema. He is also a great foil for Ronaldo and Bale and has a decent record in the big games.
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I don't understand your point? You present your argument as a contradiction, but it doesn't go against anything I've said.
 
Wenger is only good at motivating players who are intrinsically motivated. With Benzema his motivation/drive has always been the question, he has all the ability but he doesn't apply it. Big, mobile, skill, a good finisher with both feet, he can drop deep/go wide and link play. It is hard to define yourself in a Ronaldo/Bale world, but Zidane has done wonders with him. At 26 he should be entering his peak, hopefully the mental issues are behind him too.

If i'm Arsenal I am definitely spending the money if he is available, you missed out on Higuain and in Arsenal's system he will score goals for fun. 30-35 million.
 
sizzling sausages said:
I'm saying he has been a success there. He wouldn't have lasted this long if he wasn't.
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I suppose its what we quantify a success, I don't see a team like RM spending €35 million a few years back on a striker, only for him to turn of a prime age, and they decide he isn't good enough or they'd prefer another, it's only "not success" at a team like RM, granted. I'm not trying to be picky, but my point is due to their crazy expectations and if there was to be a player plus cash deal, you'd imagine him to be of the most "droppable", I suppose for me, that counts against him... But even by their standard clearly he hasn't been a failure, but there's been times where he was displaced in the XI by lesser players.
 
All those goals he's scored for Real are impressive to me because 1) He had to battle with Higuain for several seasons 2) He was never set up to be the main goalscorer for his club.
 
AngeloHenriquez said:
I suppose its what we quantify a success, I don't see a team like RM spending €35 million a few years back on a striker, only for him to turn of a prime age, and they decide he isn't good enough or they'd prefer another, it's only "not success" at a team like RM, granted. I'm not trying to be picky, but my point is due to their crazy expectations and if there was to be a player plus cash deal, you'd imagine him to be of the most "droppable", I suppose for me, that counts against him... But even by their standard clearly he hasn't been a failure, but there's been times where he was displaced in the XI by lesser players.
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I understand your point now but I don't think it's fair to judge Benzema by Madrid's stupidity. They are the team that got rid of Ozil when he had nearly thirty goals and over 50 assists in three seasons for them. He too was only coming in to his prime.
 
Van Persie carried on at the same level for a while but he's dropped off this season, Nasri has gone back to near the level he was at Arsenal after two poor years at City, Cole took a long time to replicate his Arsenal form at Chelsea and never reached the level he was capable of. And those are the arguable ones (see Adebayor, Song, Fabregas, Toure, Hleb, Vieira, Henry, Overmars, Anelka, Flamini etc).
 
peterstorey said:
Van Persie carried on at the same level for a while but he's dropped off this season, Nasri has gone back to near the level he was at Arsenal after two poor years at City, Cole took a long time to replicate his Arsenal form at Chelsea and never reached the level he was capable of. And those are the arguable ones (see Adebayor, Song, Fabregas, Toure, Hleb, Vieira, Henry, Overmars, Anelka, Flamini etc).
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Definitely some truth to that. Gervinho is about the only recent one I can think off who breaks that trend, maybe Carlos Vela as well though with him it's more of an age thing.
 
Red Shorts said:
I wouldn't call getting over 20 a season twice as a bad record, when he did this at the age of 20-22 in France...
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It's not bad, but it's not great either, because in this Madrid team everyone had good stats. I am sure Higuain had much better goalscoring record for them in the same time and they thought he isn't scoring enough.
 
peterstorey said:
Well you need to address the 'dropped-off' list above if you want to punt that opinion with any credibility whatsoever.
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I read it, half of them were in their 30's. Half were bought to play on the bench at their new clubs. Half are being played out of position. I can't be asked to go down the list a refute every single one.

I didn't say he isn't a good motivator, I said he can motivate players who are intrinsically motivated. He has taken Arsenal as far as he can, he should build another great team then bring in a successor.
 
JaffyJoe said:
I read it, half of them were in their 30's. Half were bought to play on the bench at their new clubs. Half are being played out of position. I can't be asked to go down the list a refute every single one.

I didn't say he isn't a good motivator, I said he can motivate players who are intrinsically motivated. He has taken Arsenal as far as he can, he should build another great team then bring in a successor.
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You can't refute any of them and not one was in his 30s when sold.
 
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