Manchester United Keen To Lure Karim Benzema Away From Real Madrid

As reported by Barcelona-based sports daily Sport, Manchester United has decided to wait until the end of the current season before mounting an assault for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

The Red Devils are said to be extremely interested in the former Olympique de Lyon talisman and the intention is to put a little more than €22 million on the table to try to convince Los Blancos to sell.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson already made a push for the French striker last summer, before being out-muscled by Madrid president Florentino Perez.

The Premier League side believes that in the next few months Benzema will continue to fall short of the lofty expectations placed upon him and that Madrid will be obligated to accept a lower offer than they originally paid for him.

Benzema has had a very well documented period of adjustment to La Liga, relegated to the bench for many of Madrid's matches in the first half of the season.

However, in the last month, as the player has become more comfortable with life in Spain and the Spanish language, he has exhibited an improvement in form, most notably against Valencia (when he started the match in place of the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo) and Zaragoza.

Benzema is currently Madrid's third leading scorer with five goals and reports out of Madrid seem to indicate that the Frenchman will start next weekend's match against Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabeu.