How Man Utd would have lined up if they signed Benzema
Suraj Radia
- Updated: 13 Apr 2022 21:43 BST
- 3 min read
With more than 500 appearances, 300 goals and 20 titles across 13 years, Karim Benzema will go down as one of Real Madrid and football’s greatest players.
The 34-year-old is having his best goalscoring campaign ever, having netted for the 38th time this season when he grabbed an extra-time winner against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter final.
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Benzema joined Real from Lyon for €35 million in 2009, however ex-Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand revealed then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson was desperate to bring the Frenchman to Old Trafford.
Real had already prized away Cristiano Ronaldo for a world-record fee that summer and Benzema was earmarked as his replacement at United.
However, he opted to join Los Blancos, and United were forced into signing their second-choice striker Michael Owen. The rest is history.
Ferdinand admitted that Ferguson’s failure to convince Benzema to sign for United would go down as one of the legendary manager’s biggest regrets.
But how would United’s team have lined up had Benzema chosen to replace Ronaldo in Manchester?
What would Manchester United have looked like with Benzema in the 2009-10 season?
Picture the scene. The year is 2009. Barack Obama is in his first year as president, Michael Jackson’s death shocked the world and Manchester United have announced Benzema as their new number 7.
Having just lost the Champions League final to Barcelona, Ferguson splashed the cash on the 21-year-old in the hope of replacing Ronaldo’s 26 goals in the previous campaign.
The signing signified a change in system for United to accommodate their new front line, with Benzema partnering Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov up top in a 4-3-1-2 formation.
The two-pronged strike force meant Wayne Rooney took on a role as the number ten, utilising his intelligence and ball-playing skills to bring out the best of the forwards.
With Ronaldo’s departure, Ferguson opted for a narrower system and a midfield three of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, as well as Darren Fletcher off the bench.
Antonio Valencia, a £16m summer signing from Wigan Athletic, initially arrived as a winger but saw more game time at right-back due to the injury concerns over captain Gary Neville.
The width was provided by Valencia and left-back Patrice Evra, who both helped usher in the era of wing-backs bombing down the flanks.
Was the new-look United good enough to immediately better their real life position of second in the Premier League and a League Cup win?
Considering Rooney was their top scorer with 34 goals, moving him to attacking midfield may have been counter-productive initially.
Benzema had a slow start too and only scored eight goals in his first Madrid season, although the move would undoubtedly have brought long-term success to United.
However, having won four Champions Leagues at Real, any regrets would perhaps be on Benzema’s side rather than Ferguson’s.
