The French side are desperate to keep hold of their star striker.
But United will have money to burn when Cristiano Ronaldo joins Real Madrid and Alex Ferguson is ready to swoop.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed megabucks Manchester City and Chelsea could rival United for Benzema.
He said: "Karim has said that he wants to stay another year at Lyon.
"But I think that Kaka or Ronaldo maybe imagined remaining with their respective clubs.
"There is a tsunami called Real Madrid which provokes reactions at Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
"So it is very complicated to say that he is non-transferable. Today, it's obvious we want to keep him.
"There is more chance he'll be at Lyon next season than that he won't be.
"I won't hide from you the fact that he has been approached. For the moment, I managed to convince them not to go further."
prefer vucinic lehs..
A source close to Manchester United has claimed that Karim Benzema is at the top of Sir Alex Ferguson’s list.
Lyon have opened the door to Benzema’s move to a bigger club, and Carlos Tevez’s departure, added to Cristiano Ronaldo’s upcoming move to Real Madrid, leaves no choice to Ferguson who needs to sign attacking players.
France international Benzema was hailed by the Old Trafford boss last season and it is believed that a big money offer could convince OL to let their goal-machine go.
The reigning Premier League champions are believed to be preparing a move for the striker.
“Karim has everything it takes to play for Manchester United,” a United source told Le Parisien.
“Now that Carlos has taken his decision and with only 15 days remaining before the return in training, we are going to seriously deal with his transfer.”
OL sporting director Bernard Lacombe has hinted that Lyon could let Benzema go if a huge offer was made by The Red Devils.
“Nobody knows what is going to happen,” he said.
“What should we do if Manchester, who have a lot of cash to spend, want to sign Benzema?”
just curious...
this chap always wanted to go La Liga.. Suddenly, there are no news from La Liga wanting to sign him, and he has no comments... very strange.