Karim Benzemas exit was a quick one.
With Saudi Arabia offering €120 million a year, they quickly sealed Benzema’s transfer to Al-Ittihad.
The transfer sent shock waves through Madrid.
At one point, there were rumours that little investment would be made in the transfer market.
Now that Karim Benzema has moved on, revitalising Real Madrid 2.0 is underway.
When Cristiano Ronaldo left the club, their goals per game plummeted, as did their season expectations the following year.
It took the return of Zinedine Zidane and a highly pragmatic approach, led by one of Europes best defences, which led to a La Liga title two years after Cristiano.
To this day, the Ronaldo replacements have yet to replace his goal-scoring output or boost the teams prolificacy in front of goal, which may signal that its an impossible task.
Without Benzema, the club finds itself in a comparable situation.
But this time, it must at least replace the goals.
This data analysis will examine the best approach to not only replace the goals but also to produce a comparable skill set.
Using xGold, we’ll use statistics to identify players with the best data profiles to replace the Frenchman.
We’ll first examine a few specifics of Benzemas style of play, assess the transfer options suggested by the rumour mills, identify replacements with xGold, and offer a couple of creative solutions at the #9 spot.
Finally, we’ll look at the most creative solution of all…not replacing Benzema.
Karim Benzema style of play
Benzema is a household name and doesnt require a full scouting report.
The Ballon dOr winners qualities are well known, but we still want to grasp his role within Real Madrids tactics.
Additionally, we want to blend our analysis of Benzema through data and tactical images.
The statistics will demonstrate his impact, while the few still images we use will illustrate how he utilised his talents.
Starting with the data, 2022/23 was a bit of a drop from his Ballon dOr winning 2021/22 campaign, but we still have a nice overview of his significance in the squad.
Goal contributions P90 were down this year, though each of his other metrics relating to actions in the box was in the 92nd percentile or higher.
He had less to do defensively, which is expected given Real Madrids dominance in possession and an attempt to preserve Benzema’s legs for the attack.
We wont focus too much on those statistics.
Instead, well examine perhaps the most consistent aspect of Benzemas game, dat
