According to the Metro, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema is set to complete a move to North London "very soon".
This news comes from Italian football Journalist Emanuele Giulianelli who claims that Arsenal are flying to Madrid to complete a £35 million deal, with Benzema signing a £120,000 a week contract.
The numbers would seem wide of the mark, last summer the French international signed a contract extension keeping him at the Santiago Bernabeu until 2019, his wages are currently £150,000 a week, any indication that this deal is all but complete would appear to be premature.
In addition, Olivier Giroud has recently signed a new deal of £130,000 a week, also Theo Walcott put pen to paper for a reported £150,000 a week- you would assume that Benzema would at least want to be in line with the top earners at the Emirates.
Madrid's 27-year-old striker is said to still be very happy in Spain, his new manager Rafa Benitez has been transparent about his desire to keep the forward, so baring a dramatic turn of events it would seem that any transfer is just speculation at this stage.
Much of the rumour seems to come from the fact that Benitez allegedly sees Cristiano Ronaldo as his first choice striker, this would see the aforementioned Frenchman as second choice, something he would surely find unacceptable.
Benzema has already gone on record suggesting that he "plans to see what the future holds" in respect of how Benitez plans to use him this season.
The French striker missed Madrid's trip to Germany in the Audi Cup due to a thigh injury and may miss the start of the La Liga season, so you would need to ask yourself, even if Arsene Wenger is interested in the player- would he waste valuable recruitment on a player who won't even be available for the start of the premier league campaign?
Is Benzema what Arsenal need?
There is no doubt, Arsenal are light in personnel when it comes to out-and-out strikers. Giroud remains the main man when it comes to viable centre forwards at the Emirates. The jury is still out on Walcott- who started to show some real quality to the end of last season, Danny Welbeck is struggling for fitness and with the departure of Chuba Akpom on loan, Arsenal need an addition or two to really cement a strong title challenge this term.
So how do Giroud and Benzema compare?
Giroud | Benzema | |
Games | 27 | 29 |
Goals | 14 | 15 |
Total Shots | 70 | 69 |
Shot Accuracy | 50% | 53% |
Assists | 3 | 10 |
Chances Created | 28 | 44 |
Pass Completion | 68% | 79% |
Both strikers have very similar styles and this is reflected in the stats from the 2014-15 season in their respective leagues, one thing that stands out is the difference in creation from Benzema compared to Giroud who only created 28 chances in 27 games, compared to Benzema who created 44 chances in 29 games.
Benzema is just one of a long list of names linked with a move to the Emirates this summer- Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Fernando Llorente are some others that have not been linked with the level of continutity that the former Monaco forward has, this normally signifies some truth may exist, but it would not be a surprise if in three weeks time there is still speculation between Arsenal and Madrid regarding a £45 million bid for the 27-year-old striker.
Something that was incredibly noticeable from last season was that Arsenal counter attacks repetitively broke down due to lacklustre involvement from Giroud, who has notoiously struggled in the big games, that is where Benzema offers more. The Real Madrid striker is an upgrade on Giroud who has a history of being able to bully the smaller teams- which is where he got most of his 14 league goals last season.
Whom-ever Wenger identifies as a possible addition to his squad, it really needs to be someone that is capable of leading the line, but more importantly someone with a good turn of pace and excellent movement.
Arsenal have bags of pace in their frontline since the addition of Alexis Sanchez and the encouraging performance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - that is before even mention the blistering speed of Theo Walcott. Wenger has a vast level of dynamism at his disposal, now is the time for him to add a world class striker to the mix.