Chelsea are possibly having their best league run in years as the Blue brigade marched on to their eighth consecutive win with a brilliant comeback against Manchester City and part of the reason for that is the supreme goalscoring form of Diego Costa.
The Spaniard has scored 11 goals in 14 appearances for Chelsea after they finished 10th in the league last season. Costa scored the quintessential equaliser against City, which turned the game in Chelsea’s favour. However, Antonio Conte is wise enough not to solely count on him for Chelsea’ league campaign and is looking for enforcements coming January to ease the burden off his shoulders.
And he might have just found the right candidate to aide his top-scorer in Karim Benzema. According to Spanish outlet Don Balon, Real are looking to sell Benzema next summer as they believe it would be their final opportunity to cash in on him.
Benzema has been long linked with a move to England and Arsenal were a very realistic destination last summer, but things didn’t materialise then. He will turn 29 later this month but Real still reportedly reckon they could demand upwards of £50m for him.
Among the clubs that are keeping tabs on the highly-rated French striker are Chelsea, Arsenal and Paris St-Germain. However, given the high price, Arsenal are very unlikely to survive the race, despite Arsene Wenger being a big fan of the player.
Benzema moved to the Bernabeu in 2009 from Ligue 1 side Lyon for around £30m and has since scored over 160 times for the club. But, Real are now looking at younger players to fill the void and would like to buy fresh faces as soon as the transfer ban gets lifted.
Benzema has been below par this season scoring six times in 17 appearances in all competitions for Los Blancos so far. In La Liga this season, he has scored four goals and registered one assist. He has a shot accuracy of 59% and looked quite blunt in the El Clasico last week.
Diego Costa will firmly be their first-choice striker but Benzema would certainly add proven quality to their attacking options. The Frenchman will surely find it difficult to break into the first team at Chelsea, but if Conte plays two up front, Chelsea could be a formidable force to reckon with.
Conte has often come up with viable solutions in the past and don’t put it beyond him to find a setup where both Costa and Benzema could thrive in.
