If Real Madrid decide to sign another striker in the 2020 summer transfer window, then they’ll want someone stylistically different from Karim Benzema. Erling Haaland fits the bill.
Karim Benzema was, once again, Real Madrid‘s most effective attacking player for the duration of the 2019-2020 season. Yes, Vinicius Junior and Isco were stronger in the final month of the campaign, and Eden Hazard‘s peak in November was indisputably the benchmark for Los Blancos’ attackers. But in terms of consistency and, yes, end product, Benzema stood alone at the top.
With 14 goals in La Liga, Benzema scored nine more times than second-place Sergio Ramos. A center back. Benzema was also the team’s leader with six assists, showing the creative output and impetus that has made him the most well-rounded No. 9 of his generation.
Yet his tendency to drift wide or drop deep to support the wingers earned him criticism in 2019-2020, especially when the goals ran dry in the second half of the campaign.
Since the wingers weren’t exactly Cristiano Ronaldo-like in their lethality in front of goal – especially with Gareth Bale struggling mightily – Benzema’s creativity wasn’t exactly rewarding. And his movement ended up costing the team chances in the penalty area when creators like Vinicius and Isco were looking to put the ball into the box.
Benzema still has a key place in the team and remains one of the world’s best all-around strikers, even at the age of 32. But Real Madrid need goals and need to sign someone who can immediately make a difference. Luka Jovic should be the guy at the striker position, after Real spent 60 million euros on the 2018-2019 breakout star.
However, if Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane remain unconvinced in Jovic or want to hedge their best, they need a striker who is the opposite of Benzema. They need someone who is ascending athletically and capable of being a goal-scoring machine. They need someone whose lone instinct is to score goal after goal. They need Erling Haaland.
If Real Madrid sign a No. 9, they shouldn’t mess around with older options like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, overpriced options like Harry Kane, or second-tier strikers like Raul Jimenez. No, if they really think the need to sign a world-class striker – and it’s debatable if they do, since Kylian Mbappe would fit their needs better if they are patient with the talented Jovic in the middle –then Haaland is the best option.
Haaland is everything Benzema isn’t. He’s a 19-year-old who scored nine goals in his first 512 Bundesliga minutes at Borussia Dortmund. Between Dortmund and RB Salzburg, the Norway international banged home eight Champions League goals in only 374 minutes; that’s nearly two goals per 90 minutes.
An athletic monster, Haaland is efficiency personified. He was born to score goals, and in addition to possession a clinical boot that can smash scorchers from beyond the blue, he has the movement skills and instincts teenage forwards can only dream of. Stylistically, he is Benzema’s opposite number, and that just might be enough for them to co-exist in Benz’s final years of his illustrious career at the Bernabeu.