Sun journalist Martin Lipton has mooted the possibility of a Newcastle United swoop to sign Karim Benzema from Real Madrid this summer – but only if the Magpies are sold by Mike Ashley.
It has been widely reported that the Bin Zayed Group is trying to buy the Tyneside club for £350million, and that could lead to Newcastle having plenty of money to spend on luring new players to St James’ Park ahead of next season.
Lipton believes that 31-year-old Benzema is someone who could be playing in black and white stripes in 2019/20 if BZG are successful in their attempts to buy Ashley out.
However he does reckon it would take a massive contract offer to snap up the French forward.
“Benzema’s probably available if anyone fancies a bit of Benzema,” Lipton told talkSPORT on Monday morning [14m44s]. “I think he will still score goals.
“If you’re Newcastle and you can get him, after your new ownership if it ever happens. At 32 (sp), you pay the money, don’t you?
“If you offer him £250,000-a-week, he probably goes anywhere at that age. Who else is going to pay him that? And he’ll score goals. He may not be what he was but he’s still better than anything else they’ve got.”
OPINION
Lipton is right to say that Benzema is past his best, but he did still score 30 goals and supply 11 assists in 53 appearances across all competitions for Real Madrid last season. Although Zinedine Zidane has signed Luka Jovic, the chances of Benzema wanting to quit the Bernabeu and join a team that won’t be playing in Europe and unlikely to win silverware next term are low. Even if BZG complete their takeover of Newcastle and give Rafa Benitez, or whoever is in charge, a massive warchest to spend on improving the squad, Benzema would more than likely snub a move to Tyneside. It probably wouldn’t happen anyway because it would require a lot of money and he is on the wrong side of 30. It’s nice to see these kind of players linked with the Magpies, but for now, fans and journalists need to stay a bit more grounded and realise that nothing is ever that simple at St James’ Park.
