Benzema reveals why he chose to join Real Madrid over Man Utd, Barcelona & Inter

Karim Benzema has revealed that Real Madrid beat Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter to his signature in the summer of 2009 because Los Blancos president Florentino Perez personally visited him at home and sold him an ‘exciting’ vision for the club’s future.

Benzema, who also admitted that he had been dreaming of playing for Real since the age of 15 anyway, has lived that out, winning five Champions League titles and scoring 328 goals so far in all-white.

At 21, the former Lyon talent was hot property on the transfer market. He made his debut for his home town cub shortly after turning 17 and scored 31 goals during the 2007/08 season when he was approaching 20 years old.

United, who had won the Champions League in 2008, reigning European champions Barcelona and Inter, who were building towards winning the Champions League in 2010, all showed interest. Real, meanwhile, hadn’t won a Champions League knockout tie since 2004.

But 2009 was the summer that Perez returned for a second term as Real president, with the club already spending huge sums on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka. Younger talents like Marcelo and Sergio Ramos were also becoming increasingly important to the club, with Benzema joining for €41m.

“There were quite a few clubs that contacted me, like Manchester [United], Inter and Barcelona, but I decided to come [to Real Madrid],” Benzema told Onda Cero.

“I remember I was with my friends. My family and agent called me to tell me that I had to go home quickly, that we had to talk,” he recalled of how his move to Madrid happened.

“I told them I didn’t have time and they told me, ‘You have to come, Florentino is here’. I opened the door and saw him, I didn’t say anything, just ‘Hello’.”

Benzema revealed Perez told him: “You will be the best in the world and the place to achieve it is Real Madrid.” He added himself: “Real Madrid are an excellent club. I’ve dreamt about playing here since I was 15. Florentino spoke to me about the team and the project he wanted to create. It was very exciting. Real Madrid fans have a special relationship with the players and I am very grateful for that.”