Olympique Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas says he is confident of holding onto star striker Karim Benzema.

"We are going to do everything to keep him for a little while," said Aulas. "If our results match our ambitions, we will have the right arguments to convince him to stay. This can be a beautiful story.

"The competition with huge clubs is not unfair. To the contrary, the fact that clubs such as Manchester United, Inter, Real Madrid and Barcelona are interested in Karim is an honour.

"It means they are interested in OL as well."

Benzema has been rated at €100 million (£90 million) by his employers, a sum that will discourage possible suitors according to Aulas.

He added: "We spoke about that sum of money in order to price him out of the market and to show we wouldn't sell him at the end of the season.

"We want to provide him with the means to succeed. We are going to do our best to bring OL, with Karim, to the roof of Europe, possibly from this year."