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THE Spanish coach is confident the French attacker will remain at the Santiago Bernabeu and refused to talk about signing David de Gea from Manchester United

Rafael Benitez says he has no reason to believe that Karim Benzema will leave Real Madrid this summer.

The French striker has been the subject of intense speculation this summer, with many reports linking him with a move to Arsenal.

Benitez, though, expects the 27-year-old to remain at the Santiago Bernabeu beyond the transfer window.

“Benzema, I think, is going to stay with us,” he told reporters ahead of his side’s Audi Cup semi-final clash with Tottenham.

“I’m very happy with him. I’ve no reason to think he’ll go.”

The Spanish coach is happy with the squad he has got but believes more signings will be made as they look to improve on last season, in which they lost out on La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey to Barcelona, though he refused to comment on the potential signing of David De Gea from Manchester United.

“I said before that Madrid have signed some players and have a great squad, but I aim to improve the team and to be as competitive as we’ve always been.

“I’ve said in five press conferences that I don’t want to talk about players of other teams. We’ve very good goalkeepers in Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla.”

Benitez was also full of praise for Gareth Bale, whom he expects to recover from a poor 2014-15 campaign and be a key player for Los Blancos next term.

“Gareth is a huge player for us. I know he wants to play well, he’s happy and going to have a good safe season.” — Goal