Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out that he would be in the reckoning for signing the striker Karim Benzema from the Spanish giants Real Madrid. Arsenal and Wenger are in Singapore for their pre-season matches. After dispatching the Singapore Select XI 4-0, Arsenal are scheduled to meet Everton in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy this afternoon. Not surprisingly enough, there were questions on Benezema asked of Wenger ahead of the game.
The only serious business done by Arsenal in the current transfer window is the purchase of goal keeper Petr Cech. Right from last season, there were reports that Wenger is ready to splash the cash for a marquee player. Benzema is someone whom Wenger tracked for many years. But, he always thought that the price is way too high. But, the signing of Mesut Ozil broke all the shackles of large money transfers and also the doubts of supporters. And so when there were reports that Wenger will be looking for a quality striker to reinforce his team, many strikers were linked.
There were rumours of bids being thought for Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette, Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain and Benzema. None of these strikers are cheap but have many suitors. And so, Wenger was categorically mentioning that any move to sign Benzema will depend on the market.
“I don’t know where that story comes from, but that is not happening at the moment,” Wenger said in Singapore. “I am happy with the squad we have. If I find an exceptional player to strengthen, I will do it.
“It depends what’s on the market. It is not easy, there are a lot of teams out there in Europe competing for the same player. We don’t rule it out and [also] don’t guarantee we sign.
“[The title] is our target and we feel we have a chance in a very competitive league. We are not far away.”
Benzema is a proven striker and his stint at Real Madrid is a testimony to that. He had a slow start to his career but soon blossomed into a goal poacher at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. He consistently scored 20 or more goals in the past 5 seasons with the Los Blancos.
In these circumstances it is no wonder that there is a hefty price tag on Benzema. Manchester United is also on the lookout for a striker following the departure of Robin van Persie. They will also be looking at Benzema if he’s available in the market.
Wenger always maintained that he’s in the market for ‘an exceptional player’. Arsenal have tried to sign Benzema in the past but found it really hard to lure the Frenchman out of the club. Wenger went on record to say that he has a stable squad but he will not let the opportunity of signing Benzema go down, if he gets one.
The supporters will be silently hoping that this comes to fruition because Benzema is one of the rare natural goal scorers in European football. If he joins, it will be a massive boost to the whole squad. Though his country man Olivier Giroud keeps him out of the national squad, Benzema will be an addition that may eventually propel Wenger back to Premier League glory.
Sridhar
Benzema is the only striker I am interested in signing. I heard Benzema and Giroud does not get along tho.
Real Madrid wants De Gea
Man Utd only sell De Gea if Real let Ramos comes in a swap deal
Real Madrid interested in Koscielny
Arsenal want Benzema from Real Madrid
Arsenal got strongly linked with CBs recently – Rogmanoli of Roma and Rugani of Juventus
Wenger pair Mertesacker with Gabriel, Koscielny with Chambers
So does it mean once Arsenal got defender replacement, all these transfer will all happen
I know I read too much into transfer
But will you Gooners happen to have Benzema in expense of our best defender The Boss?
be happy*
If Kos must leave just to get Benzema……. THAT would be a terrible deal.
absolutely terrible. I wouldn’t trade the boss for any1
I will for Ronaldo and Bale.
Olivier Giroud does not keep Benzema out of the French national squad.he is not competition to Benzema because Benzema is light years ahead of Giroud.He is far far better.Wenger should go all out for him.there are thousands of better strikers than Giroud though some are not world class.Chuba Akpom at 19 years would score more goals than Giroud trust me.its better if we play Akpom instead of Giroud.Its a pity imagine if ylou never rated a player since he has been here and the coach keeps playing him. I will never ever rate him or remember him but at least thanks to him that he is on the pitch giving his all but when i watch him play i feel there are so many better players than him some who are not even world class.
I say just go all out and sign dzeko, he’s a proven talent in the bpl. With a good offer we could land him. No need to wait until benzema is 33 before we sign him, benzema does not want to leave real and real don’t want to let him go so there is no point waiting for him cuz it won’t happen. Get either dzeko or lacazete
The goal production stats of Benzema and Giroud simply prove you are wrong about Benzema being “light years” better. Their goal production stats from last season are nearly identical. (goals+assists per minutes played). Facts are stubborn things.
Facts are stubborn things.yes they are but a kid in the village who watches Benzema and Giroud every week would know who is better and is his mind will also feel that he is light yes better than Giroud.for example some players might be better than some players but due to some reason stats may support them.i am not really looking at only goalscoring but i look at everything the player does on the pitch.i said it here first i would have used an 18 year old Chuba Akpom over Giroud.The midfield makes Giroud look very good.I dont know what makes an inform Giroud better than an inform Chamakh or inform Adebayor or inform Bendtner.Giroud when i watch him to me is nothing just nothing special.stats dont lie but my eyes wont lie and stats may not even be accurate.so as i said Benzema will always be light years above Giroud.how some people think we can compare Giroud to Benzema is beyond me.oh! arsenal i hope we open our eyes one day.hmmm
“i said it here first i would have used an 18 year old chuba akpom over giroud”
And thats exactly why no1 takes you seriously and your credibility is shot.
@mohawk (Giroud’s biggest lover)
Well Squawka proves Benzema is light years ahead of Giroud.
Total score on squawk for Giroud is 404 and total score for Benzema is scored 957.
K , ool biggest Giroud hater even when Giroud is not the subject haha.
Stats are made out of several things….here period of time is missing.
Mohawk speaks the truth.
Beware…some people around here hate stats haha.
I for oneTotally agree wth you
Would be happy with either benzema or lacazette! Coyg!
Viroid is simply not good enough to start for this club .. No striker shows no ambition and 4th is guaranteed .. So sorry for our amazing midfield with a poor striker ahead of them
Giroud*
Giroud is good enough to start for arsenal, he has proven that with 14 goals in 21 starts last season. But we need a top striker to compete with him, giroud alone is just not enough
Wise words. Actual complete sentence.
Believe it or not im still having a barrel of laughs, of higuain’s valuation of 65m! What a laugh!
Arsenal will also regret selling Szczesny instead of Ospina.stats do not make a player what he is.i have seen many people here say Ospina is better than Szczesny because of his stats and a cool head.even people now want Ospina because of the game against Argentina.wow.how do some people think.i watch Szczesny and i feel soo bad for him.he has player under some terrible defending in the year 2011 2012 2013 2014 and fast forward to 2015 we have some better defending but that was until he went out.why are people so ignorant. i mean its painful looking at thing which arent true.the fact of the whole story is Wojciech Szczesny is far better than David Ospina.We will regret selling him i said it here first.it was painful watching Ospina in goal cos i felt Szczesny was always better.
Are you kidding me? LMAO…Szceszny better than Oooospina??
What make s Ospina better than Szczesny.name the two things apart from Ospina cool head and distribution.Sometimes its like people have not watched Szczesny make any save at all.by the way you are confident i am also confident lets see who we regret selling.
What way are you judging it. Are you looking at the saves made and then rating which ones you think are better.
Szcz is full of mistakes, I know everybody makes them but he takes the whole cake shop. Distribution, handling, letting crosses just float into the box even when there is little pace on ball. Then flapping at the crosses he does come for. Even his bloody kick outs. Haphazard is a word Id use, not always but far too often in my opinion.
Face it, the boy has a lot to learn. He can be a good shot stopper but like every pro says “every PL GK is a good shot stopper”. You know a good keeper when all aspects of his game are above average to very freaking good.
I dont like to be too critical of our own players but sometimes I feel like the lad will never learn or he just cant be arsed on occasion.
He’s a good shot stopper it’s just his mental game that is severely lacking. You’d think after being the #1 and garnering valuable experience he’d be mentally stronger and sharper but he just makes the dumbest decisions.
Look at other players around his age who have pushed on after playing regularly, I.e de gea, Leno, courtouis etc
You’re an absolute nutjob writing the things you do on this comment section
Dude they both had the same defense this season and Ospina was better. It’s a fact.
Defense seemed less nervous with Ospina at the back. Not a fact but a perception.
I love Szczezny and love his attitude and àrrogance but Ospina came out better.
If Benzema agrees to sign for arsenal, Giroud will leave.
We are not signing benzema… There is no way he would join us. He’s happy at Madrid
Benzema would be a great signing no doubt…and sure as hell would be a pain in Giroud’s ass,the rivalry will get bigger with two of em battling top 9 for both club and country..bad for them both,good for us..two of them in the team will make us stronger
By the way how can someone submit his own article here.its time i came on stage and show human beings the way to open their eyes.How someone please tell me
even though your spewing crap…. go to the top of the page and click contact, then email your article to the designated email address
His articles could add spice and much needed insights, such as why Chuba Akpom with his zero league goals whilst on loan at various lower league clubs could outscore Olivier Giroud in the PL.
Gotta love the trolls 😀 Sometimes they don’t make any less sense than some of the regulars on here.
Haha I know, it’s clear a lot of the people on here are 15 and get there info from FIFA. Giroud is only a regular for the French national team and has proven he’s a good option at the highest level. But hey clearly akpom is better!
Hahaha excellent. Totally agree.
(Akpom will be good though but I agree that tday those are the facts)
Benteke no,any player who is not exciting to watch is not good enough for arsenal even if he can score.Same case applies to giroud ,,afc is the home of beautiful football
Ospina is just good no doubt but i wonder how people watch both keepers making excellent saves and conclude that Ospina is better than Szczesny.is its Saves then Szczesny tops no doubt.Ospina only has better distribution and a cool head than Szczesny.that is all reflexes talent height(very important for a top keeper) Szczesny has all over Ospina i feel ashamed for me to even hear people say Ospina is better than Szczesny somene please show me how to submit an article already.
You are right. Szcesny is a better shot stopper – no question. But there is so much more to goal keeping and Ospina is far better in reliability, decision making, distribution etc.
First game for Cech at arsenal Trophy! I want a treble b4 the season start:asian trophy,emarates cup and community shield!coyg!
Here we go again. Benzema is likely better than Giroud because he offers a little more in his repertoire. – But he is not significantly better.
Last seasons stats of Giroud and Benzema are nearly identical. That is just the reality. Maybe Benzema can help, but he is not a top level striker and he is not worth 40 mil just to equal Giroud’s striking stats.
Our striker situation is very easy to analyze, are there better strikers on the market than what we currently have…and the answer is yes.
Giroud – Giroud is fantastic value for money when you take into account the price of strikers in today’s market place, but he’s been given three seasons to prove himself and he clearly isn’t a top striker. I would definitely keep him, but as a second choice. Giroud, is what I like to call, a third tier striker. Messi, Ronaldo – tier one, Aguero, Suarez – tier two, Giroud – tier three. Obviously tier one is never going to happen, but we should have had a tier two striker by now with the money available.
Sanogo – Shocking signing on every possible level, especially when taken into context…we needed a top striker and Wenger signed Sanogo. I look at Sanogo and I think, League One at best, although I feel I’m being disrespectful to League One strikers.
Akpom – Unlike Sanogo this guy as potential, but he’s barely kicked a ball in our first team, so it would be very risky pinning our hopes on this inexperienced youngster. I feel he’d benefit more if he were to go on loan to a Premiership club.
So we’re very short of out-and-out strikers in terms of numbers, but most importantly, quality. Other striking options are:
Walcott – A lot of fans have called for him to be our main striker for this season. His pace and movement is definitely more suited to our style of play, it would benefit our creative players such as Ozil, Cazorla and Wilshere, and I’d rather see him up front than Giroud, but Walcott is a big risk. He has almost no experience as a striker despite being 26yo and he’s very injury prone. Surely it’s more than a tad naive for our main striker to be inexperienced and injury prone. I don’t think anyone would be surprised if he missed a huge chunk of this season through injury. Another point is that Walcott is actually very good on the right-wing, so is it worth changing his position?
Welbeck – A panic buy, and one that a lot of fans were not happy with. “He can play anywhere across the front line” Wenger says. So, a jack of all trades and definitely the master of none! The reason Welbeck as a striker doesn’t work, is because he’s not a natural finisher. He’s often in the wrong position because he works so hard for the team off the ball to win it back. He’s a better option on the wing because of his work rate and defending, but to be honest, he’s pretty much a headless chicken like he was at Man Utd.
Sanchez – I think he could do a job for us, but he’s too effective in the LW position, so it would be crazy to move him.
Personally, I pray we get a top striker. I am fed up of starting every season on the back foot, because Wenger refuses to strengthen weak areas.
Sorry the long post, but I’ve just been chatting with my friend (who’s a massive AKB) and he feels that we don’t need a new striker. I argued the point that a top striker is possibly the most important part of a team. Look how Liverpool crumbled after losing Suarez, and I can’t think a top European team that doesn’t have a top class striker. So I had to write this post just to get it out of my system.
Asia champions, COYG!!!!
I don’t know if the fans here will like it but…… I find very little wrong with your analysis.
Getting a top striker would solve many problems no doubt – so, your are right, that would be the best option.
On the other hand, we must recognize, it is not impossible to win the league with a striker like Giroud – Chelsea did it with Costa last season. The goal production rates of Giroud and Costa were actually very close (goals+assists per minutes played) – Costa was not injured and played more minutes so he produced more in total numbers. And with Walcott emerging who knows what he may offer in goal production this season – it looks promising.
It is impossible bec the likes of Terry and co lough their a**es off when they have to mark Giroud. That much of a poor striker he is.
Holding the ball ability you all people love to addres him with is a fraud. For his stature he is rather weak and goes easy on the ground.
Listen to Moro as he knows better then Wenger. He is the current Champion and he claims that stats mean nothing.
Costa wasn’t injured, did you not watch the league last season? Costa missed 6 games vs Spurs (h), Liverpool (h), Arsenal (a), City (h) and United(h&a) alone only one being through suspension. Costa missed 10 + games in the league and is notorious for having hamstring issues. Drogba had the most appearances of any Chelsea striker.
Giroud even had more appearances in the league than Costa did.
I do remember months of absence Re giroud
I’m actually smiling at the prospect of having both Benzema and Giroud slug out at arsenal and at the national team level. I think it would actually spur Giroud on to raise his game…. Well, for all i care, i would gladly welcome the arrival of either of these strikers; Benzema, Lacazett, Dzeko…
In the Everton game, Giroud was deployed on the pitch merely as a decoy so the other attackers could create and produce the goals.
When Giroud walked off the field he had the look on his face that suggests he had figured out what his role really was today.
Haha your basically just calling him shit then if he needs everybody else to score. If he’s being used as a decoy after 3 years that means he’s not good enough.
Yes. Today he was not a goal scorer. If that makes him “sh#t” then so be it.
lol…he has NEVER been a goalscorer.
As usual, making stupid excuses for an average player.
If you want him to be a starter so bad, I hope we don’t sign a world class striker so we can watch Giroud lead us to 4th place again.
Dude…really. we get u don’t like him but….come on.
Goal scorer: a guy who scores goals.
Sorry to break it but he indeed is one.
If you had written record breaking goal scorer…maybe
Well done Sherlock. If it wasnt for your supreme awareness we ignorant fans would think that he was rather poor and not good enough. I salute you.
So now your comments are the only ones worth considering??
@mohawk
That must have hurt…LOL
It was probably just worded wrong, I think he meant our line up confused the hell out of Everton and they weren’t sure on there markers.
Hahaha pepes here saying Benzema is not significantly better than Giroud.i do not even want to go to stats.Firstly lets talk about finishing,Giroud finishing is not really that good at all.He misses a lot of chances.He most at times needs many chances to score and all also misses sitters too much.his shot accuracy too aint that good at all.This makes him an average finisher.Secondly,lets go to his dribbling abilities.every player has his own limitations.Giroud has average dribbling.there are many times if he could beat a player he would have been through on goal but since he cant he just waits for support denying the team a chance to score in most cases.Average dribbler.In addition,hold up play,Giroud holds up the ball really well,however,this does not work in all cases against physically strong defenders and also very intelligent defenders his hold up play suffers a lot.so for hold up play he is ok.i could go on and on my word this striker is not good at all dont you watch him or you want to use his stats.ah! i just dont get how people watch matches sometimes.
To be fair he did improve last season but I agree with you mate. I’d take Benzema over Giroud all day long.
So….Benzema doesn’t miss a lot of chances???
Man…I like Benzema but he actually does!
He’ll our king Henry failed to score in his two European finals with arsenal!!!
Hell. Not he’ll
Yeah!!! my reason being I’m simply tired of the “Giroud will come good this season” “this will be the breakout season for [promising young talent]” “our midfield will bring us the needed goals if our strikers don’t” “If we have a injury free season…..” JUST TIRED!!! look, a world class striker would obviously do us good, we seem to agree on that! and our arguments are hencely based on which striker would do us the good. I say just get someone (Benzema, lacezzete, dzeko, pedro, ibra,higuan) whoever, whether they hit the ground running or flop is a uncertainity to be confirmed in the future, but atleast we can sit and say WE TRIED!! it’s certainly better than repeating the same (failing) system dependent on the same (constant) variables and expecting positive change.
Just don’t come crying out the same reason (excuses) at the end of another unsuccessful PL and CL season! especially if those reasons are stuff we could almost accurately predict before the season even kicks off
The thing is that when people say they just need that that and this and then they would have won the title, well the thing is nobody knows or will ever know if that is true. The players coming in could have unbalanced or unsettled the team or they didn’t hit the ground running, they didn’t settle. Or you could still have averaged a similar amount of goals. Then there’s a chance you could actually finish worse off as you may of had to play them with their price being so high or for whatever reasons. You always hear people say if they had of done this differently and bought him, speak as if its a fact. It can go either way, but with the pissing and moaning you would think these guys can see the alternate future.
I agree with you about taking a gamble, if the money is there well then a gamble for the title should be made. However, keeping in mind what I said above, should remember we are pitting our wits/ideas against Arsene Wenger of all people.
So Dzeko ….hahahaha higuain hahaha whatever
Who and what is the master deal in the first place?
Just found out that aubameyang has scored 49 league goals in 67 league appearances
Aubameyang is the closest thing to Henry now days, even though i am ashamed to compare him to the kind. I would rather see him at Arsenal then Benz. Benz is good but the prize tag he brings with him is simple facking wrong.
@ ks gunner
Just when I thought your opinion couldn’t get any worse…. Aubameyang the closest thing to Henry?! HAHAHA have you ever watch Pierre play I mean even once?
@handsomegooner,
Actually it’s not.. Checked it from Wikipedia, right? Well it’s completely wrong in there, I double checked his stats from last season and the one before. It’s closer to like 77 matches with 37 goals in domestic competitions.
Is Benzema the missing link were we are concerned. The missing link between man and ape, between humanoid and beast, he could well be but I wouldn’t say it to his face.
The most promising scenes I witnessed throughout that match was definitely our work ethic, although Ozil making creative brilliance look like a stroll in the park is a sight. For me though, to see Arsenal dispel any notions that our end of season togetherness and defensive toughness was just a reaction brought on by our haphazard first half season was the icing. To see us return in numbers whenever ball is lost and keeping a very decent shape (before all the changes) even though only a friendly was pretty darn great to see.
The 3 targets we’ve been linked to be varying media outlets of varying credibility are Benzema, Lacazette & Aubameyang, and all would bring something to this team that it doesn’t currently have, each in their own way.
Benzema gets in great positions, is strong, and a very clinical finisher. He’d be able to hold the ball up, but also get in behind the defence, and a lot of times where we’ve come up short in the past with our current squad come down to us not taking our chances in those games. A player like him could turn those chances into goals, and in a team like our where we create a lot of chances, he could score a lot in this team.
Lacazette is smaller than Benzema at only 5’8 or thereabouts, but as you’d imagine, he’s quick, and is also a good dribbler. He seems to be a good natural finisher, although playing in the French league, you could argue that his competition isn’t against the quality that he’d typically face in the prem. That being said, he’s younger at 24 years of age, and has room to grow. The question with him is where he fits the system. If you have doubts over the ability of Theo or Sanchez to be a central striker, you may have similar concerns with Lacazette.
Aubameyang is an interesting watch. He’s tall at around 6’1, and has pretty impressive acceleration and speed. He isn’t the most physical guy, but in the same manner as Henry did, he has that 0-60 acceleration to just breeze past defenders. I’m not saying he’s anything like the quality that Henry was, but he has that same type of instant speed that you notice when you see him play. He’s great on the counter attack and is capable of producing decent finishes. He’d add more terrifying speed to our attack, a front 3 of him, Sanchez & Theo would be deadly if given any space.
If I had to pick one, Benzema is the most consistent finisher, and probably the most natural central forward of the bunch. He also has chemistry with Ozil, and experience playing with Giroud in case we want both up top together at times. However, I like all 3 and think we’d be lucky to have any of them, as they’d all likely bring some goals into our team and are all good players.