Darwin, Richarlison, Ronaldo and Endrick: Who will Real Madrid sign to replace Benzema?

Stuart Telford

• 3 Dec 2022 18:45 GMT
• 4 min read

Florentino Perez may insist he is happy with Real Madrid's squad, but that doesn't change the fact that Ballon d'Or winner and last season's top scorer Karim Benzema faces months on the sidelines with a torn thigh muscle…

Benzema bagged 44 goals in 46 games in all competitions last season - with 15 assists for good measure - as Real won La Liga and the Champions League. But at 34, injury may be beginning to get the better of him.

Benzema missed Madrid's last six games before the World Cup, and pulled out of France's title defence on the eve of the tournament, tearing his quadricep having struggled with a hip flexor issue in the preceding weeks.

READ: Real Madrid 'angry' at Ballon d'Or winner Benzema

Real have been linked with a number of strikers since. But who is most likely to actually make it to the Bernabeu?

Darwin Nunez is the most recent to be linked with a move, with Spanish outlet Defensa Central suggesting that the Liverpool man is on Real's shortlist. This is one that can go down as fantastically unlikely, however.

Nunez only joined Liverpool from Benfica in June, and is just beginning to make good on his astronomical €100 million transfer fee with nine goals in 18 appearances that have been scored at a rate of one every 105 minutes he has played.

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) November 24, 2022

Richarlison in Plan A

Another, more likely, target, is Tottenham Hotspur forward Richarlison. Like Darwin, Richarlison only moved in the summer, joining Spurs in a £60m (€70m) deal from Everton. Unlike the Uruguayan, Richarlison has found the target for Brazil at the World Cup this winter, scoring a spectacular brace against Serbia.

READ: How Richarlison outshines Neymar, Vinicius & Raphinha for Brazil

Richarlison finds himself in the peculiar position of being Brazil's first-choice No.9 but not getting his game there at club level, with a certain Harry Kane in his way. Fellow attackers Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo will be in his ear about Real in Qatar, and he has first-hand evidence of what it would be like to play with one of them shunted out to the wing instead.

Jorge Mendes has reportedly offered Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid on a six-month deal following his player's release by Manchester United in light of his explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he slammed the Glazer ownership, manager Erik ten Hag and more.

Ronaldo is Real's record goalscorer with a barely fathomable 450 goals in 438 games scored between 2009 and 2018, but at 37, his career at the very top is probably over, and a big money move to Saudi Arabia appears to be more likely at this point.

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) October 7, 2022

Last but not least is Endrick. The 16-year-old is in high demand after becoming Palmeiras' youngest debutant and Brazilian football's second-youngest ever goalscorer, and Real have an ace in the hole in being able to point to the experiences of Vinicius and Rodrygo at the Bernabeu in recent seasons.

But he can't move abroad until the summer of 2024 when he turns 18, at which point Real will almost certainly have swooped.

But for now, Darwin and Ronaldo can be filed somewhere between 'unlikely' and 'impossible'. Richarlison might be Benzema's replacement, and Endrick will almost certainly be his replacement's replacement.