Lyon closing in on Real´s Van Nistelrooy: report

AFP - 2 July 2009 14:05

Real Madrid striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy celebrates after scoring against Athletico Madrid during a Spanish league match in 2008. The Marca sports daily has reported that Lyon want to sign Van Nistelrooy to replace Karim Benzema who has agreed to join the Spanish giants.

MADRID (AFP) - Lyon want to sign Real Madrid's Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy to replace Karim Benzema who has agreed to join the Spanish giants, sports daily Marca reported on Thursday.

Lyon was initially interested in another Dutch striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has sparked interest from AC Milan, but he refused to join the French side, the newspaper reported.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, then asked his Real counterpart Florentino Perez to try to convince Van Nistelrooy, out injured for most of last season, to join the club, it added.

The 33-year-old, who moved to Real in the summer of 2006, has said he would like to stay on at Real.

But he has fallen down the pecking order at the Bernabeu following the Spanish side's signings of Brazil's Kaka and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo in recent weeks.

Van Nistelrooy underwent an operation in November 2008 on his right knee which the club said at the time would sideline him from six to nine months.

The Dutchman has scored 45 league goals for Real, four of them last season before being injured.

He was the top scorer in the league for 2006-07 with 25 goals in 37 matches.

The Spanish press said Perez hopes to sell most of the club's Dutch players, Aside from Van Nistelrooy and Huntelaar, these are Rafael van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Royston Drenthe.