Karim Benzema revealed he rejected advances from the likes of Champions League finalists Barcelona and Manchester United before opting for his "dream" move to Real Madrid.

Benzema established himself as one of Europe's hottest properties during his time at Lyon, for whom he scored 54 competitive goals in the last two seasons, and he was regularly linked with some of the continent's biggest clubs.

Madrid won the race for the France international after having a 35million euros bid accepted by Lyon last week, but while Benzema insists the Spanish giants were always his top choice, he confirmed they were not his only suitors.

When asked what other teams were keen on him, Benzema said: "There were quite a few clubs that contacted me like Manchester (United), Inter Milan and Barcelona, but I decided to come here.

"Real Madrid are an excellent club. I've dreamt about playing here since I was 15 years old.

"Florentino (Madrid president Perez) spoke to me about the team and the project that he wanted to create. I wanted to play at Real Madrid anyway so he didn't have to convince me of hardly anything."

Benzema is the the fourth new arrival to be unveiled by the Spanish giants since Perez returned to the presidency at the start of June, following in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Raul Albiol.