Lyon have accepted a bid from Real Madrid to sign French international Karim Benzema.

It’s understood that Benzema was also a target for Manchester United but it looks as if the English club have lost out to their big spending Spanish rivals who’ve already splashed out £148 million on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Raul Albiol.

The fee for Benzema is £30 million although that could increase by a further £5 million depending on his performances and the club’s future success.

A statement on the Lyon web site said:

Lyon announce they have reached an agreement with Real Madrid on the details of the transfer of their international attacker Karim Benzema.

A few days ago Karim Benzema informed the club president Jean Michel Aulas of his desire to move to the Madrid club, which had always been his favourite club after Lyon, earlier than he had foreseen.

The player wanted to seize the opportunity which Real Madrid offered him to be one of the major elements in their new ambitious project based around the greatest players of the world.

Lyon accepted Karim Benzema’s decision and negotiated the conditions of a transfer which satisfies all the different parties.

The club wishes Karim the greatest success with Real Madrid.

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