Man Utd urged to sign Benzema by club legend

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 7 Jan 2024 13:58 GMT
• 3 min read

Louis Saha believes than Karim Benzema would shake up Manchester United's front line and teach Rasmus Hojlund a thing or two about being a striker.

United have been linked with a host of strikers in the winter transfer window with Hojlund taking until December to open his Premier League account after joining from Atalanta for €73.9 million last August.

Moves for Serhou Guirassy and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting have been mooted. The former has a €17.5m release clause at VfB Stuttgart while the latter is behind Harry Kane in the pecking order at Bayern Munich.

But Saha, who scored 42 goals in 124 games for United between 2004 and 2008, thinks his French compatriot Benzema would be a better fit.

"Of course, he'll shake up the United frontline and that's what they need," Saha told BettingOdds.com. "He'll definitely score goals and he'll link up the play a lot better.

Benzmea>Hojlund?

"It's just a dream, but Karim's still a very professional guy; he's the type of striker that Hojlund will learn from…"

A Ballon d'Or winner in 2022, Benzema is rumoured to be growing frustrated in Saudi Arabia, and recently spent some time back in Spain, where he played 14 seasons with Real Madrid.

Benzema is valued at €27.6m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, and whether United would try and buy the 36-year-old out of a contract which runs until June 2026 remains to be seen.

Benzema's former Real teammates Casemiro and Raphael Varane currently face an uncertain future at Old Trafford, with new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe reportedly ready to offload those ageing high earners.

At the other end of the spectrum, Hojlund, at 19, is on just £85,000 a week at Old Trafford - compared to Casemiro's team-high £350,000 - and his five goals in six Champions League games this season suggest there is more to come from the young Dane.