Benzema fulfils Real dream

Benzema: Always wanted to join Real

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Karim Benzema admits he did not take much convincing to ignore interest from Manchester United in favour of a move to Real Madrid.

French striker Benzema was paraded as Real's latest big-money signing on Thursday evening following the recent captures of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Benzema had been wanted by Premier League champions United, while the likes of Barcelona and Inter Milan had also shown an interest.

However, the 21-year-old has revealed Real president Florentino Perez's vision for the club's future only hardened his resolve to move to the Santiago Bernabeu from Lyon.

Dream

"There were quite a few clubs that contacted me like Manchester (United), Inter Milan and Barcelona, but I decided to come here," said Benzema.

"Real Madrid are an excellent club. I've dreamt about playing here since I was 15 years old.

"Florentino spoke to me about the team and the project that he wanted to create. I wanted to play at Real Madrid anyway so he didn't have to convince me of hardly anything."

Benzema, who has not yet been given a shirt number at his new club, was a prolific scorer with Lyon and he is confident he can be a regular marksman at Madrid as well - if he can secure himself a place in what is promising to be a star-studded line-up.

"I don't want to promise a set number of goals, although I hope to score a lot. With players like Kaka, Ronaldo and Raul it will be very easy for us to get goals," said Benzema.

"I'm aware that there is great competition at the club and maybe I cannot always play, but I've come here to fight, so it's not going to be a problem."