5 amazing players sold by Lyon in the last decade

#1 Karim Benzema

An underrated striker for the Los Blancos

Karim Benzema is the only player on this list to have won the league title with Lyon. Benzema is definitely the most successful academy graduate from Lyon’s production unit (at least in terms of the number of trophies won) having managed to be a part of 4 consecutive title wins from 2004-2008.

The 3-time French player of the year had his breakthrough during the 2007-08 season as he won both the golden boot and the Ligue 1 player of the year award on the way to Lyon's 6th successive title. Benzema finished that season with 31 goals in all competitions prompting Real Madrid to splash out €35 Million in the summer of 2009.

Now in his ninth season at the Bernabeu, Benzema has scored almost 200 goals for Los Blancos, a mightily impressive tally that has been overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo’s superhuman abilities. Benzema is a part of the aforementioned BBC trio (Benzema, Bale and Cristiano) and the most underrated of the three.

13 years on from his Lyon debut, Benzema, currently in his prime looks set to miss the 2018 World Cup.