Benzema is the lone survivor LaLiga - Real Madrid From Florentino Perez's return to presidency in 2009

In 2009, Florentino Perez returned to the presidency of Real Madrid as the only candidate in elections after years of instability on and off the field.

His first act was the club's record transfer window, spending 96 million euros on Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, 67 million euros on Kaka from AC Milan, 35 million euros for Karim Benzema from Lyon and 30 million euros on Xabi Alonso from Liverpool.

Add in the likes of Esteban Granero, Alvaro Arbeloa, Ezequiel Garay and Raul Albiol and it was a summer of 254 million euros of spending in total.

From all of those additions, only Karim Benzema remains nine years later and he is closing in on his tenth season at the club, only behind Sergio Ramos and Marcelo for time spent at the club.

Manuel Pellegrini's squad couldn't get past the last 16 of the Champions League and failed to win LaLiga, despite earning 96 points, three less than Barcelona.

Despite continual rumours that he could depart, as have become customary, Benzema has responded on social media denying a move to Napoli or AC Milan, though he is used to the media looking for potential destinations for him.

Benzema is motivated by the chance to impress Julen Lopetegui, who is counting on the striker and even more so after Cristiano Ronaldo departed.

In his worst ever goal scoring season in 2017/18, the Frenchman was still influential in the Champions League semi-finals and final and now he's ready to bounce back to his prolific best.