Karim Benzema – good but not that good
Credit crunch? What credit crunch? If you thought the days of football’s silly money were gone, think again. For the past few years, transfer fees have been levelling off towards relatively sensible figures. But it now looks like the influx of new owners to the Premier League has reignited the transfer boom.
Manchester City’s arrival as a big-spending force has been well-documented. It seems that their deep pockets will drive up transfer fees. In the short-term at least, City will have to pay over the odds for transfer fees and wages to make sure that they are a more attractive club to do business with than some of their rivals who have Champions League football to offer. Take Karim Benzema as a case in point.
The young French forward is an excellent prospect. He will probably be one of the best strikers in Europe for the next decade. But he is relatively unproven. He has scored freely in France, but I would back myself to bag a few playing for Lyon against most Ligue 1 sides. He disappointed at Euro 2008 and he only scores a goal every four games at international level.
Perhaps I am undermining his undoubted talent a little, but it is only to emphasise that in a normal transfer market Benzema would not be worth the £80m fee that is currently being touted. Yes, he is good but is he twice the player of Luis Figo in his prime? I don’t think so. For that price you could buy the current strikeforce of Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney, and still have enough change to buy two unproven Cristiano Ronaldos.
Manchester City are unsurprisingly one of the other clubs linked with the bloated price tag on Benzema’s head. The two city rivals would do well to tread a little more carefully. How much for Kaka if Benzema is worth £80m? There is a danger of the clubs ending up like hardened eBay addicts unable to resist one last bid.
Also See: 100m Benzema: Chelsea, Manchester or Madrid?
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He is only worth as much as the market values him. Few years back 26 million Chelsea shelled for Drogba causes a few debate. Now all the big clubs demand over 20-30 million for their prized possession. In this regard only Arsenal made a loss when Vieira 15 million and Henry 15 million. Benzema is never going to be worth it ever. First try Steve Marlet 7 million.
September 28th, 2008 @ 16:48hey its city,let them humiliate themselves by wasting 80 mil on him
September 28th, 2008 @ 21:08i really think that karim benzema could be even better than cristiano ronaldo, having said that, he needs some where were he can keep playing and getting better!!
September 28th, 2008 @ 23:35duffy-stone,haha!!!
September 29th, 2008 @ 03:03I don’t know much about Benzema, only the hype I’ve heard about him from others who would know whether he’s good or not. I watched him in Euro08 but he was playing more of a right wing role rather than up front. That’s just typical France, trying to crowd as many of their best players into the first team regardless of whether they fit or not.
As for the 80mil price tag I think Lyon know that clubs for whom money is no object like with City will bid that price. Benzema may not be worth it but Lyon must be thinking that if a club with the spending habits of City are willing to pay that much for him then why not sell him. They’d be making a huge profit and could use that money to seriously strengthen their own squad.
I personally don’t think United need Benzema at the moment. Where would they fit him? It’s a bit of a shame really because he kinda looks like a young Eric Cantona.
September 30th, 2008 @ 04:40come to arsenal benzema, you need some more exposure, we won’t pay 80m, maybe between 7m to 10m.
December 11th, 2008 @ 00:48