Karim Benzema, crowned last year as Ligue 1’s best player as of last season, has set his sights high - he wants to take the Ballon d’Or. He admitted, though, that he may just have to depart from Les Gones to do it.

And such a departure may not be far off. There’s been plenty of hubbub floating around lately that Benzema might be heading away from France and going, most likely, either to either Real Madrid or Barcelona.

Not that he necessarily wants to leave. Benzema questioned the wisdom of leaving his team just a year away from the world cup. Why take off when his already champion team could possibly take another one?

The next year’s probably going to be marked by a lot of tough decisions by the 20 year old footballer, at any rate. But at least no matter what, he’ll still be playing football.

The young player managed to score not one but two goals in Lyon’s first match against Toulouse FC, eventually pulling the team into an excellent 3 to 0 victory over their opponents. Definitely a good start on their road to defending their Ligue 1 title.

Lyon dominated the game with Benzema making two very nice shots to give them goals. The only bad point of the evening for Lyon was an injury on the part of Francois Clerc, and it doesn’t sound like anything with long-term ramifications.

Check the full story here.

According to a story by Goal.com, there are reports that Barcelona may be looking to get rid striker Samuel Eto’o - who they’d been wanting to part ways with - in exchange for Benzema. And according to Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas, the trade would be a welcome one - he , at least, has no problems bringing in Eto’o. Lyon had previously wanted the striker but had been unable to manage a deal.

A number of European teams have been after Eto’o but they’ve always shied away because the striker’s fees are on the steep side.

The trade comes at a perfect time for Lyon, as club officials have confirmed that they’re looking to strengthen their front battle lines on the football field in preparation for the Champions League.

“We lost because the referee did not help us,” said Benzema in a brief interview with Goal.com, referring to the judgments of Slovakian referee Lubos Michel during a June 17th match against Italy. The Frenc Les Bleus lost the match 2 to 0. The loss brought them to the bottom of the Group C listing of teams with only one goal in three games, having given up six to other teams in that same frame of time.

Even worse, the team suffered one penalty and one injury early on, and once Italy scored its first goal there wasn’t much hope for Bezema and his team.

Check Goal.com for more details.

1 Ricardo Kaka €9.000.000
2 Ronaldinho Gaucho €8.520.000
3 John Terry €8.040.000
4 Frank Lampard €8.040.000
5 Thierry Henry €7.800.000
6 Cristiano Ronaldo €7.680.000
7 Michael Ballack €7.440.000
8 Andry Shevchenko €7.440.000
9 Steven Gerrard €6.780.000
10 Wayne Rooney €6.780.000
11 Raul Gonzalez €6.420.000
12 Ruud Van Nistelrooy €6.420.000
13 Fernando Torres €6.180.000
14 Didier Drogba €6.180.000
15 Frederic Kanoute €6.120.000
16 Iker Casillas €6.000.000
17 Michael Owen €6.000.000
18 Rio Ferdinand €5.880.000
19 Fabio Cannavaro €5.880.000
20 Sol Campbell €5.880.000
21 Nicolas Anelka €5.580.000
22 Louis Saha €5.520.000
23 Luca Toni €5.520.000
24 Francesco Totti €5.460.000
25 Arjen Robben €5.340.000
26 Ryan Giggs €5.220.000
27 Michael Essien €5.040.000
28 Robinho €4.980.000
29 Patrick Vieira €4.980.000
30 Adriano Lima €4.980.000
31 Zlatan Ibrahimovic €4.980.000
32 Gianluigi Buffon €4.980.000
33 Samuel Eto o €4.980.000
34 Charles Puyol €4.980.000
35 Andres Iniesta €4.980.000
36 Sergio Aguero €4.980.000
37 Kieron Dyer €4.980.000
38 Peter Crouch €4.980.000
39 Jamie Carragher €4.980.000
40 Gary Neville €4.920.000
41 Edwin Van Der Sar €4.860.000
42 Fernando Morientes €4.860.000
43 Alessandro Del Piero €4.800.000
44 Oliver Kahn €4.800.000
45 Willy Sagnol €4.800.000
46 Lucio €4.800.000
47 Frank Ribery €4.800.000
48 Djibril Cisse €4.800.000
49 Karim Benzema €4.800.000
50 Darren Bent €4.680.000
51 Joe Cole €4.680.000
52 Harry Kewell €4.680.000
53 Pedro Pauleta €4.560.000
54 Juninho €4.560.000
55 Deco €4.500.000
56 Gianluca Zambrotta €4.500.000
57 David Beckham €4.500.000
58 David Trezeguet €4.500.000
59 Sidney Gouvou €4.500.000
60 Lilian Thuram €4.500.000
61 William Gallas €4.380.000
62 Claude Makelele €4.380.000
63 Petr Cech €4.320.000
64 Antonio Cassano €4.200.000
65 Carlos Tevez €4.200.000
66 Ronaldo Lima €4.020.000
67 Andrea Pirlo €4.020.000
68 Alessandro Nesta €4.020.000
69 Clarence Seedorf €4.020.000
70 Filippo Inzaghi €4.020.000
71 Gennaro Gattuso €4.020.000
72 Nelson Dida €4.020.000
73 Kakha Kaladze €4.020.000
74 Javier Mascherano €4.020.000
75 Fernando Gago €4.020.000

This is effectively Real Madrid’s summer shopping list, which is being viewed as important ot rebuild and enhance the team. The acquisation of such stars would be a very costly exercise. Christian Poulsen and Daniel Alves play for Real Madrid’s La Liga rivals Sevilla. Benzema has stated that he would like to stay on longer at Lyon.  Quaresma how plays for Porto is a reasonable target but Porto will not let him go cheap. Gomez plays his football for Stuttgart and would probably be affordable, and Ajax’s Huntelaar has indiciated an interest in moving.

Calderon will be eager to make some new important signing this summer as part of is election mandate in his presidency win over Florentino Perez was to attracted big stars like Kaka and Fabregas, which has yet to happen.

Lyon have confirmed that Karim Benzema will be unable to play for approximately 2-3 weeks due to a knee injury he sustained during Lyon’s six goal thriller against Paris St Germain at the weekend. Benzema was substituted in the first half of the game.

Benzema received a scan which ruled him out of the French international squad that play England in an international friendly in Paris.

Karim Benzema and Lyon team-mate Hatem Ben Arfa having been taking Spainish lessons according to Marc Crosas, an on loan Barcelona midfielder with Lyon.

Crosas said “They study Spanish while I am learning French. Because we’re the same age, we all get along well.” Crosas also stated that “Benzema is perhaps more ready for a big transfer. He’s a very adaptable player, whose style sees him able to evade any defence.”

So this begs the question is it going to be Real Madrid or Barcelona for the much sought after duo ?