Manchester United are confident they have the spending power to see off Real Madrid in any auction for Lyon ace Karim Benzema. The Daily Mail says Benzema, who has expressed a preference to play in Spain in the past, has been courted by Zinedine Zidane after Real were rebuffed in their bid to sign David Villa from Valencia.

The ironic problem for Real though is that they don't want to go above £25m as they have earmarked cash for other targets.

United, flush with the majority of the £80m they have received for Cristiano Ronaldo, have the upper hand.

But Sir Alex Ferguson has told Benzema's representatives that Lyon have to be realistic over their valuation.