Over the past decade, Karim Benzema has solidified his status as one of Real Madrid's greatest players ever, but it has now been revealed that the prolific striker could have joined Manchester United instead of the LaLiga club.
Since joining Los Blancos from Olympique Lyon in 2009, Benzema has become one of world football's leading forwards, and is already the Spanish giants' fourth-highest goalscorer of all time, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Gonzalez and Alfredo Di Stefano.
Things could have worked out differently for the Frenchman, however, with Premier League side United having reportedly made a better bid for his services than Real during his final season in Ligue 1 with Lyon.
That's according to the French club's owner and president, Jean-Michel Aulas, who told beIN SPORTS that, although the Red Devils had made a better offer for Benzema, he accepted Real's lower bid because it was the striker's dream to play for the LaLiga giants.
"When Karim left Lyon, we had two offers," Aulas said.
"One from Manchester United and one from Real Madrid.
"Karim came to see me, and it showed our relationship and trust. He told me 'my dream is to play for Real Madrid', and, in the end, he went to Madrid for an amount that was less than what we had from Manchester United."
Benzema has scored 236 goals in 483 appearances for Real since, and is just 30 goals behind third-placed Di Stefano in the club's all-time scoring ranking.
