Arsenal to make £40m Benzema bid

Arsenal are preparing to make a £40 million bid for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, according to reports.

The Daily Star is reporting that Arsenal manager is ready to sanction a £40 million bid to sign French hitman Karim Benzema from Real Madrid.

The Gunners have been linked with a move for the former Lyon striker for the past couple of years, but have been unable to persuade Los Blancos to part with one of their star man.

But the European champions exercised their buyback option on Alvaro Morata this summer, bringing the 23-year-old Spanish international striker back to the Santiago Bernabeu from Juventus for €30 million.

There were rumours during the summer that Madrid had only re-signed Morata in order to then sell him on to the Premier League to make a big profit.

But, as reported yesterday, Morata claims that Madrid rejected a £60 million bid from Chelsea for his services, as he is viewed as a key player for the future of the eleven time champions of Europe.

So could that mean that Benzema could be available?

Wenger is certainly hoping so. But the 28-year-old – who was implicated in a blackmail allegation by international team mate Mathieu Valbuena last year – is part of the ‘BBC’ attacking trio along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, and the Madrid superstars would not be happy to see him sold.