Benzema set for switch next year

The 21-year-old, who has netted 43 goals in 112 league outings for the Stade Gerland outfit, has long been linked with a string of European football's big hitters, including Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Their hopes of bagging the French international - who has featured 24 times for his country, scoring six times - appear slim during this close-season, with the front-man happy to stay at Lyon for another season,

However, the player's agent, Karim Djaziri, has revealed the youngster will - in all likelihood - be moving on in 12 months time following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

“Karim told me he wants to stay here," he told Sport.co.uk.

"Before he went on holiday for three weeks he told me he wanted to stay at Olympique Lyonnais and help prepare for the World Cup in France.

"Obviously you can never say definitely in football, but at the moment Karim is on holiday and before he left for his holidays he said he wanted to stay at Lyon for one more year. Then, if there is an offer we will take a look at it.

“There has been no contact for the moment.”