Spanish giants Real Madrid will offer French striker Karim Benzema a massive pay rise in a new contract in order to keep him at the Santiago Bernabeu and ward off interest from the Premier League.

The French international striker is a player that is much admired by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and had been linked with a big money move to the Emirates Stadium last season as well. However, that transfer didn’t happen and instead, Wenger signed German midfielder Mesut Ozil from the record European Cup winners but is keen to add the forward to his ranks as he looks to bolster his attacking options.

Wenger already has Frenchman Olivier Giroud in his squad and wants to bring his France team mate and create one of the deadliest attacking forces in the Premier League as they look to push for the title after winning the FA Cup last season.

But Real Madrid are adamant about their stance of the Frenchman who scored goals for fun last season forming one-third of the BBC attacking trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale and his form at the World Cup where he has already scored three goals in two matches will only to serve to increase Real’s resolve.

Benzema has just one year left on his current deal with the club and if the club doesn’t move to secure him on fresh terms, he could walk out of the club for free in twelve months, a scenario that doesn’t suit Real Madrid.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has already told club president Florentino Perez to sign Benzema on a new deal and although they are set to compete with Barcelona for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, will move to secure the future of the Frenchman, tying him to the Spanish capital on a long term deal.

Real Madrid have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2008 after they lost to Barcelona and Sevilla. This has severely hurt their title aspirations, as they are now in danger of conceding the league title to either rivals Atletico Madrid or Barcelona. Teams looking to win the title rarely drop points in the Spanish league, but Madrid have now dropped six points in the last two weekends.

This has allowed Atletico Madrid to open a three-point advantage with only seven matches remaining. Even though the club returned to winning ways after a 5-0 out of Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernebeu, doubts have been starting about the title challenge of the team. Manager Carlo Ancelotti has come to the defence of his players by saying that he is confident that other teams will drop points between now and end of the season to allow Madrid to catch their rivals. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and Daniel Carvajal were all on the scoresheet against Rayo Vallecano.

The club will also have to look forward to the Champions League quarter-finals, in which they will face Borussia Dortmund. The German outfit thrashed Real Madrid in the semi-final stage last season, and the Spaniards will be looking for revenge this time around.

“Naturally, this win is important. Today we reacted well following two losses. We played a great game, with a good attitude on the pitch. This serves to prepare well for the next game. In the last two games we made errors at the back. Today we didn’t and we used the counter-attack well. The back four were good. We have to carry on. It’s an important part of the season for all of us. We could be better, given we lost twice, but physically we’re good,” said Ancelotti after the Rayo Vallecano win.