It seems as if Arsenal are destined to be linked with Karim Benzema until the end of time.

Although they won’t ever sign him, let’s take a look at what they would be getting if they did.

Real Madrid’s number 9, Karim Benzema is one of the best strikers in Europe with huge experience and numerous titles throughout his career.

The 29-year-old French striker made 48 appearances last season and scored 19 goals across all competitions combined with nine assists. It was a tally somewhat lower than he has produced over the last few seasons but still a decent return nonetheless.

Ever since he moved to Madrid from Lyon in 2009 for €35m, Benzema has been the main striking force for Los Blancos, making a total of 365 appearances for the club, scoring 181 goals and making 103 assists.

Strengths

Benzema isn’t just an ordinary striker and his impact on the whole squad is much greater than his 19 goals from last season suggest. Looking at his impact as a striker, he often looks to test the goalkeeper as he makes around 2.4 shots per-game with 63% shot accuracy.

With 80% of his passes successful, he is very good at keeping possession in the final third of the pitch and he creates an average of 1.31 chances and 1.14 key passes per-game. He is a good team player and is always looking to make a pass to a teammate if they are in better position.

Considering the fact that strikers are usually compared and rated by the amount of goals they score, Benzema’s teamwork goes under the radar as people overlook the work he puts in around the box and by dropping deep to help keep hold of possession.

Weaknesses

His main, and possibly only, weakness is that he doesn’t contribute very much defensively but he more than makes up for that by leading attacks on the counter and holding up the ball, allowing his team to make the transition.

Benzema at Arsenal

Much like his fellow countryman, Olivier Giroud, Benzema is terrific while holding the ball and drawing the attention of the opposition in order to free up space for his teammates, but he does it much better and offers greater ability in setting up attacks.

The media speculation regarding his squad status at Real Madrid, given the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo demands to be a first choice striker, suggests that he will most certainly be dropped to the bench, especially if Real Madrid get their hands on Kylian Mbappe. None of this takes into account how much Zinedine Zidane admires the player, however.

Although he often gets criticised for some of his performances and missed chances, at the end of the day Benzema is a thorough-bred striker that gives Real Madrid another dimension when going forward and there is no reason why he couldn’t do the same at Arsenal.

But he won’t.

Ever.

Goals, skills & passes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZjLzc5zkRw