Red Devils Must Pounce on Karim Benzema Opportunity

As you all know by now, Gonzalo Higuain is playing some of the best football of his life this season at Real Madrid. He has scored 25 goals in all competitions, making him the club's top scorer.

Due to Higuain's fantastic form for Los Blancos, Karim Benzema has failed to get many opportunities to play. When he has played, Benzema has disappointed, despite a few moments of brilliance.

Reports now suggest that to get Benzema some playing time, Madrid are looking to loan out the French striker. Manchester United have already shown interest in Benzema, and may look to buy him at a reduced price.

One of Manchester United's biggest problems this season has been shortage of strikers. The strikers that Manchester United currently possess have been disappointing this season.  Bar Wayne Rooney; Federico Macheda, Danny Welbeck, and Mame Bare Diouf. Welbeck has been injured for much of the season, and Macheda and Diouf are too young and inexperienced to have to carry any of the blame). 

Michael Owen has had an up and down season. He has scored a few goals, but he isn't consistent enough to be a regular starter and he is still injury prone.

Dimitar Berbatov has also been a bit inconsistent. Personally, I am a big fan of Berbatov's laid-back style of play, but this style just doesn't suit Manchester United.

Berbatov and Rooney don't make the greatest striker partnership and although Berbatov does have the ability to pierce through the opposition defense with one piece of skill, he, like Owen, isn't very consistent. 

Karim Benzema, on the other hand, has shown himself to be a consistent player in the past. It is true that at Real Madrid he hasn't been the brightest star, but at Lyon he was very important.

Also, one of the reasons that Benzema hasn't been getting playing time may not be just because he isn't good enough; it is also because of Higuain's fantastic run of form.

Manchester United need a striker who can score consistently, other than Rooney. One of the main advantages to buying Benzema is that he would perfectly compliment either Berbatov or Rooney.

With Rooney, Benzema can provide the speed that Berbatov couldn't, and he can still provide the skills that Berbatov has.

A Benzema and Berbatov combination would provide a striker partnership that would have the skills to break an opponent apart easily; instead of just one striker who has to set up another player, as was many times in Berbatov's case, there are two strikers who can set each other up.

Manchester United must pounce on this chance to take Benzema, because of their need for a consistent striker so that they don't depend fully on Rooney. 

Otherwise, United will crash and burn in future seasons if Rooney is injured.