Sir Alex Ferguson has been warned to expect a 12-month wait to sign Lyon forward Karim Benzema, despite the French club admitting that they could be forced to sell the £25 million ($A52 million)-rated player because of Manchester United's financial power.
United manager Ferguson is ready to increase his efforts to sign the 21-year-old following Carlos Tevez's decision to reject the offer of a five-year contract to stay at Old Trafford, with sources on Sunday night indicating that Manchester City were leading the race with Chelsea for the Argentinian's signature.
Tevez's departure, coupled with the impending pounds £80 million ($A166 million) sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, has left United needing to replace two forwards who contributed 41 goals between them last season.
Benzema, a France international with a proven pedigree in the Champions League, has been identified by Ferguson as a key target.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has admitted that a "tsunami of money" could force the French club's hand and sporting director Bernard Lacombe claimed over the weekend that United have the financial muscle to prise Benzema from Stade Gerland.
But the player's agent Karim Djaziri has warned Ferguson that he faces a battle to persuade the Frenchman to move to Old Trafford this summer after admitting that Benzema is reluctant to leave Lyon before next year's World Cup.
"Karim is on holiday at the moment and he is not thinking of moving," he said. "He wants to stay in France for another year so that he can prepare for the World Cup and I think that Sir Alex knows this. Perhaps he wants to make an offer to Lyon. If that happens then Karim will think about it, but as things stand Karim wants to stay with Lyon for another year."
When Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis disappeared through the Old Trafford exit door during the summer of 1995, a Manchester Evening News phone poll asking "Should Fergie be sacked?"resulted in 56 per cent of respondents answering "yes".
While rival Manchester City fans were later said to have hijacked the poll, not only had Ferguson lost three hugely influential and popular players, his critics among the club's supporters suggested he had also "lost the plot" with his plan to replace them with untried youngsters by the name of Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and David Beckham.
It was a traumatic summer for Ferguson but he had a plan and it worked spectacularly with United's golden generation ending the 1995-96 season as Double winners.
Fourteen years on, with Tevez choosing to follow Ronaldo out of the club, Ferguson now faces a comparable challenge. He has lost two A-list performers and he has to fill the void. Finding a like-for-like replacement for Ronaldo will be impossible. Real Madrid have agreed to spend a world record fee to secure his services because he is a one-off.
Antonio Valencia has been identified by Ferguson as the next best thing, though, and a £17 million ($A35.4 million) deal for Wigan's Ecuadorean winger is likely to be completed once Ronaldo rubberstamps his move to Spain.
For all of Benzema's potential, reputation and Champions League experience, however, he lacks the fear factor that Tevez and Ronaldo, in particular, held over opponents at the highest level.
Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda are bright prospects but neither is ready to emulate the feats of Beckham, Butt and Scholes 14 years ago.
Kaka has gone to Madrid, signing Fernando Torres from hated foes Liverpool is pure fantasy and Samuel Eto'o's likely involvement with Cameroon in January's African Cup of Nations rules him out.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is available at Inter Milan but his reputation on the continent has rarely been backed up against English opposition.
LONDON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
