Is Benzema the missing link at Arsenal?

 

Despite the Premier League season being mid-way through October and the transfer market being shut for well over a month now, transfer rumours are still running rampant throughout this Autumn period.

After rumours had appeared to have died down about the Luis Suarez saga moving to Real Madrid, according to the Metro, talk of Suarez’s future has been lit up again as Real Madrid appeared to have renewed their interest in the Uruguayan following his recent sensational form for the Merseyside outfit.

The Metro says that the Spanish giants are willing to accommodate their bid to lure Luis Suarez to Madrid by sacrificing out of form Frenchman Karim Benzema at a cut price of just £20 million to Liverpool’s title rivals and Premier League leaders Arsenal. This will definitely have Arsene Wenger licking his lips at the prospect of having his fellow Frenchman at his club of 17 years, in order to aid Arsenal’s status as genuine title contenders this season. Wenger was strongly interested in Benzema over the Summer however Ancelloti’s steep asking price of £40 million intimidated the Gunners from making a serious bid for the 25 year old.

With the forward only scoring on 2 occasions in 8 games for Real Madrid so far this season, the Frenchman is far off his regular high standard form and therefore at such a low asking price, in fact half of what Madrid requested for over the Summer, Arsenal will definitely be considering the services of Karim Benzema in the lead up to the January transfer window.

They may see him as the perfect follow up signing to the £42.5 million capturing of his former Real Madrid team mate Mesut Ozil. This transfer was one of the biggest sport events of the summer. The question The Gunners and many Arsenal fans will be asking though will be would Karim Benzema be a good fit for the Premier League leaders?

With the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud shining brighter than they have in previous seasons, many Gunners fans may have thought Benzema would have been a welcomed addition to the London club however with Arsenal impressing so early on this season and playing such beautifully fluent football, many Arsenal fans may question whether or not the Frenchman would interrupt their set up and such positive form at the moment, especially with his poor form at Madrid as of late with only 2 goals in 8 games.

Also, Karim Benzema would need to settle in at the Emirates and moving from Spain to England would be a big move for Benzema as it would be a different change of lifestyles for him and he would have to adapt to the English culture as well as the reality of how difficult the Premier League will be to compete in as it possesses much more difficult opposition to face than that of La Liga.

With such challenges ahead, it may affect his game play. However, taking all this into account, Benzema has adapted to different cultures before when he transferred from Lyon to Real Madrid in 2009 for £30 million. He then went onto impress the fans of the Bernabau and has since scored 91 goals over 193 game since he has played for the Spanish giants.

If you look on the flip side of things, Benzema may have a positive affect on Arsenal’s football in he does decide to join Wenger’s side. Fans would consider it another step forward and really take the club seriously in the charge for silverware for the first time since 2005 and with the signing of Ozil already in August, a name like Benzema would only add to such optimism.

The Frenchman is also a proven goal scorer – so in addition to the likes of Ramsey and Giroud firing on all cylinders – I’m pretty sure Arsenal fans wouldn’t be complaining about another natural goal scorer in the squad.

His addition to the squad would also add more competition to the forward ranks and would only motivate the likes of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski to perform even better to get into Wenger’s starting eleven as they would see an ever evolving Arsenal side developing around them and would more than likely want to stay to see where this potential trophy winning journey could take them at the Emirates.