13 Goals In 13 Games: It Is Time Real Madrid Replace Benzema With This £45m-rated Striker

It Is Time Real Madrid Replace Benzema With Mauro Icardi And Here’s Why

Real Madrid are reportedly eyeing a move to sign Inter Milan’s goal-scoring machine Mauro Icardi, who is rated at £45m. After last season’s historic results, Los Blancos have been struggling this term. They are lagging behind in the La Liga and their Champions League exploits have not been all that great. There is a shocking dearth of goals whenever Cristiano Ronaldo is not playing and Zinedine Zidane is aware of the fact that he cannot deploy him day in and day out anymore.

Karim Benzema’s goals have dried up and even Gareth Bale is unable to provide them with much-needed pace – and that is where Icardi comes in. He has been unstoppable for Inter Milan. Their performances are quite contrasting and it does point towards the fact that Real should consider a move for Icardi to bring a solution to their troubles. But what do the numbers say? Let’s take a look at the stats of both these players so far in the current campaign.

Karim Benzema vs Mauro Icardi

In 12 appearances for Real Madrid this season, Benzema has appeared 12 times and has spent 858 minutes on the field. He has scored 4 goals in all competitions while providing 3 assists. He has not received a yellow or red card so far and enjoys an average of 2.3 shots per game. His pass success-rate stands at 80.7% and Benzema has won about 0.4 aerial battles per game. He picked up the Man of The Match award once, in a La Liga encounter.

Icardi, on the other hand, has appeared 13 times for Inter Milan and has spent 1154 playing minutes on the field. He has scored a whopping 13 goals – which means he has scored an average of one goal per game. The player has chipped in with one assist and has also picked up a yellow card in the process. Icardi averages 3.4 shots per game and has a modest pass success-rate of 70.7%. He wins 1.4 aerial duels on an average and has been adjudged the Man of The Match 4 times in the Serie-A.

Verdict

Numbers may not mean everything but in this case, it means a lot. Icardi could be the perfect solution to Real’s problems and he seems like a better player when compared to Benzema. The reigning European champions have time to salvage the rest of the season but for that to happen, they will need a player of Icardi’s calibre. Of course, Inter will not let him leave for cheap but money has never been an issue with Real Madrid – especially when a player like Icardi is up for grabs.