Where does 300-goal Benzema rank in Real Madrid’s all-time list of greatest signings?

Saturday night saw Karim Benzema hit another milestone, becoming just the fourth player to score 300 goals for Real Madrid, before quickly adding his 301st. He forms part of an elite group of players, joining the 300 club of Cristiano Ronaldo (450 goals), Raúl (323 goals) and Alfredo Di Stéfano (308 goals). The Frenchman is showing no signs of slowing down and should overtake Di Stéfano and Raúl before long, even if Ronaldo’s tally seems insurmountable.

With each passing week, Benzema is becoming even more of a Real Madrid legend and his 2009 signing for €35m is made to look like even more of a bargain.

So, where exactly does the French centre-forward rank when looking at all the signings made by Real Madrid over the years? Let’s take a look.

Value for money with Benzema

When ranking the brilliance of a transfer, part of the evaluation has to consider the price paid. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo scored far more goals for Real Madrid than Benzema will likely reach, yet the Portuguese’s transfer was around €95m, more than double the fee paid to Lyon for Benzema.

Looking at Real Madrid’s list of most expensive transfers, Benzema’s is all the way down in joint 16th. Eden Hazard, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, James Rodríguez, Kaká, Luka Jović, Luis Figo, Éder Militão, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo, Vinícius, Ronaldo Nazário, Mateo Kovačić and David Beckham all cost Los Blancos more than the current vice-captain has. Yet, few of those names enjoyed the success that Benzema has at the Bernabéu.

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The bargains that have a case

Over the years, there have been some players signed by Real Madrid for less than the €35m Benzema price tag. These players, therefore, have a case for having been better signings, purely for the value-for-money reason.

Among this group we find Sergio Ramos (€27m), Toni Kroos (€25m), Raphaël Varane (€11m), Keylor Navas (€10m), Marcelo (€7m), Casemiro (€6m), Míchel Salgado (€6m), Roberto Carlos (€6m) and Fernando Hierro (€1m).

The stars of the past

Spooling further back, there are other Real Madrid legends who either arrived for free or whose transfer fees simply pale in comparison to the amounts paid today for any half-decent players. Alfredo di Stéfano, for example, was an era-defining player for Real Madrid and one of their greatest ever signings, if not the greatest.

It’s difficult to compare the relative success of the Argentine’s signing with that of Benzema, but Real Madrid fans know that both forwards have changed the course of history in their own way. And in the case of Benzema, he’s not finished yet.