Bale and Benzema staying put, Benitez claims

Being right in the thick of transfer window silly-season, we're all experienced enough to know that whatever a manager says at this moment in time could quite easily be a bare-faced lie.

Step forward then, Rafael Benitez who has assured us all that Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema are staying put at Real Madrid, despite reported interest from Manchester United and Arsenal respectively. "Gareth is a huge player for us and I know he's happy," Benitez said at an Audi Cup press conference in Munich. "I'm not going to talk about offers. Everything is well and he's going to have a good season with us, I'm sure." Regarding Benzema, the former Liverpool and Inter Milan boss delivered a similar message: "My answer is that I think Benzema is going to stay with us. I'm very happy with him. There's no reason to think that he's going to go." Whereas Benitez seems to be quite clear that the Bernabeu exit door is remaining shut, he had significantly less to say regarding any arrivals, especially when asked about Manchester United's David De Gea: "I've said in five previous press conferences that I don't want to talk about players who are in other teams. We have three very good keepers. I can talk about them, not other goalkeepers." H/T Sky Sports