With the greying, ageing and crocked Robin van Persie set for Premier League retirement home Serie A this summer and Radamel Falcao resembling anything but a £55million striker during his one-term loan at Old Trafford, logic suggests Manchester United will be on the look-out for a new centre-forward in the coming transfer window.

The only problem is that the current options on the market are rather underwhelming; a £45million bid for Tottenham's Harry Kane, who may well prove to be a one-season wonder? The activation of Jackson Martinez' £28million release clause, a striker already at his footballing peak whose experience of European football is limited to the considerably inferior Portuguese top flight?

Sevilla's Carlos Bacca, not a top class striker but certainly a first-rate second-class striker, available for £22million? Former Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain, disillusioned by Napoli's lack of Champions League football? Aston Villa's simplistic-yet-effective Christian Benteke? None jump out as immediate Manchester United, Gaalactico-variety acquisitions, capable of truly stepping into RVP's shoes or competing regularly with Wayne Rooney for the lone front-man role. All filler, no thriller.

But one speculative rumour, courtesy of The Express, contains the answer to the Red Devils' transfer conundrum - Real Madrid's Karim Benzema.

Of course, any rumour involving a club with the most sensationalist transfer policy in world football must be taken with a pinch of salt - that's my health warning before you read any further. But The Express claim Los Blancos will  sell for around £40million this summer as they eye a younger, more prolific, mysteriously unnamed replacement. Manchester United, providing someone doesn't beat them to it first, would be wise to take advantage. Here's why.

Boasting height, power and aggression, the 6 foot 2 forward is almost tailor-made for Premier League football. He's built in the classic English No.9 mould, clinical in front of goal, imperious in the air and an undoubted master in bringing others into the game, which is precisely why Sir Alex Ferguson tried to bring the former Lyon man to Old Trafford way back in 2008 - a year prior to his Bernabeu move.

Admittedly, Benzema's return since, 133 goals in 281 appearances for Los Blancos alongside just 25 goals in 77 outings for France, might seem a little unspectacular for a striker playing in the goal-happy land of La Liga, featuring in Champions League and Copa del Rey finals - not to mention two European Championships and two World Cups.

Counter-intuitively, however, that's precisely what makes the 27 year-old the best option for Manchester United this summer. Having spent the last six years in the overbearing shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema still has a point to prove - and a lot of goals to score - if he's to be remembered as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, rather than just the supporting side-show, clinging onto the coattails of a three-time Ballon d'Or winner.

At Real Madrid, that's a nigh-on impossible task. Ronaldo will always be the main attraction, the default recipient of any telling ball in the final third. But Manchester United is a club where legends are made, and although there has been some dispute over the level of quality involved recently, the Premier League is still the most competitive and entertaining division in world football. If you can produce the goods here over an extended period of time, you're indisputably one of the best at your trade.

That's the carrot, the kiddy-gloves stuff that should entice Louis van Gaal - with the addition of the sheer sight of Rooney and Benzema exploding their stocky enthusiasm together all over the final third. Now here's the stick; the potential scenario that could unfold if Real decide to sell and United don't sign a 27 year-old striker, on the verge of his footballing peak, tailor-made for Premier League football this summer.

He won't be going to rivals Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski's Bayern Munich, Diego Costa's Chelsea or Sergio Aguero's Manchester City. PSG is a distinct possibility, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani both potentially leaving this summer. But the writing on the wall, the elephant in the room, the unavoidable truth, is the strong likelihood of move to Arsenal, a side with as big a chance as the Red Devils, if not greater, of clinching next season's Premier League title - especially with the Frenchman spearheading their attack. In the transfer market, everybody's loss is someone else's gain, but passing on Benzema this summer could haunt United for many years to come.

So for both negative and positive reasons, Benzema is the man United need. Van Gaal needs to put some money on the table - before Arsene Wenger beats him to it.