Real Madrid Transfer News: Club Must Defer to Cristiano Ronaldo on Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema's importance to Real Madrid is often understated, and there have been rumours for some time now that he may be allowed to leave the Bernabeu.

Indeed, most recently he has been linked with Liverpool, Chisanga Malata in the Daily Star reporting that the Reds are close to agreeing to buy the French striker for £38 million.

The Real hierarchy would be foolish to let the 26-year-old go, even for the kind of money suggested by Malata, as he not only contributes a great deal himself but allows those superstars around him to perform to their maximum.

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Indeed, following Madrid's 5-0 thumping of Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu on Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo—who had just scored a hat-trick supplemented by a Benzema brace—chose to heap praise on his French teammate, per the club's website:

"

Benzema is the best striker in La Liga for me and one of the best in the world. He deserves it and we’re very happy with him. He is a team player and Benzema and Chicharito [Hernandez] are doing a great job. We’re very happy with them. Benzema, [Gareth] Bale and I are used to working together and we connect very well.

"

Real must defer to Ronaldo on this matter and respect his opinion, as he is correct in what he says. It is unlikely—no matter how much money they got for him—that boss Carlo Ancelotti and president Florentino Perez could find a player who adds quite as much to the team as Benzema does.

First things first, he scores goals—and plenty of them. Obviously that is a key attribute for a striker and Benzema bagged 17 goals in 35 appearances in La Liga last season, per WhoScored.com.

He came under fire last month for not finding the back of the net often enough, per SBS, an ignorant and short-sighted criticism, as is proved when the stats are examined. 

Not only does he score in the league, but he has a phenomenal record on Europe's biggest stage, per Real Madrid TV's Phil Kitromilides:

Purely based on his goalscoring prowess, Benzema would be worthy of a place in the Real side. But the fortunate thing for Ancelotti is that, unlike other strikers, he has more to his game than simply scoring goals.

As Ronaldo alludes to, Benzema is a consummate team player. He provided nine assists in La Liga last season and—along with the three goals he has scored—he already has three assists in the Spanish top flight this term, per WhoScored. 

His combination of goals and assists is evident across all competitions, per Opta, and with Ronaldo clearly the top man at the club—the Portuguese has already scored 13 goals in six league games this season per Squawka—a creative striker alongside him is exactly what is needed:

Benzema makes Ronaldo and Bale better; in fact, he boosts the performance of Real's entire attacking unit by providing both assists and goals alike.

It is very difficult to envisage a scenario in which a different striker would improve the Los Blancos attack.

Arguably, forwards like Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero are better than Benzema. However, adding either one of those two players to Real in place of Benzema would likely disrupt the equilibrium which allows Ronaldo—and others—to score at the rate he does.

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But it would be exactly the kind of move Real have a history of making. Most recently they added James Rodriguez to their squad and sold Angel Di Maria—arguably their second best player last season behind Ronaldo—to Manchester United.

Rodriguez is a fine player and had a magnificent World Cup, but his rise in profile in Brazil seemed to be the main reason for his arrival—and Di Maria's subsequent departure—rather than any intention to improve the team.

Benzema works fantastically well in the Real Madrid set-up, and moving him on—no matter who was brought in as a replacement—would likely cause unnecessary disruption to a devastating attacking unit.

Ronaldo seems to have realised this, and Real fans must hope that those in charge at the Bernabeu are similarly aware of the Frenchman's value.