Manchester City are preparing a 70-million-euro bid to sign Karim Benzema, Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport has claimed.
The Real Madrid striker has been linked with a move to Arsenal for the past few weeks, although Rafa Benitez has confirmed Los Blancos are not willing to sell the Frenchman.
Benzema is Arsene Wenger’s favourite number 9 and has also been tempted by former team-mate Mesut Ozil to join the Gunners. However, the striker seems happy at the Santiago Bernabeu and is not willing to move.
In fact, sources from the Spanish press have revealed that Benzema personally rejected Wenger’s offer in a recent phone call.
Manchester City hope to convince the 27-year-old by offering him more money than Arsenal. Yet, the player is already making eight million euros per season at the Santiago Bernabeu and seems pretty happy with it.
Florentino Perez is a big Karim Benzema admirer and he is not going to take any offer into consideration unless Benzema requests a move, something that is very unlikely to happen at the moment.
Benzema is the guaranteed starting number 9 in Rafa Benitez’s team, and only the arrival of another world-class striker would make him change his mind.
