Benzema For €100m

Olympique Lyon president today announced that Karim Benzema is free to leave the club under the terms of his contract, but only if the suitor is prepared to pay €100 million...Lyon striker Karim Benzema commands a trail of suitors as lengthy as any player in world football yet there appears to be little prospect of the forward leaving the club any time in the near future as president Jean-Michel Aulas announced that the release clause in his contract would only be triggered by a mammoth €100 million bid. This figure, one third higher than any fee previously paid [Zidane’s move from Juventus to Real Madrid being the greatest transfer fee at €75 million], simply reflects the club’s determination to hang onto their 20 year-old star and also his importance to them. Barely out of his teens, Benzema is already the most feared striker in France and is one of the most revered young talents in European football. His goal scoring rate is prodigious. Having found the net 20 times in 36 Ligue 1 fixtures last term, he is already well on his way to replicating those figures having struck five times in just four starts (and two substitute appearances) this term. In addition, Benzema scored Lyon’s equalising goal against Fiorentina with an alert finish. Currently contracted to the club until 2013, Lyon’s challenge will be to keep their young prodigy happy by producing a team genuinely capable of winning the Champions League – until then, there is always a risk he could leave for a figure well below his release clause.