French striker Karim Benzema, on bad terms for several weeks with his Saudi club Al-Ittihad, returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, 17 days late, AFP learned on Friday from a source close to the club, who is “furious about what happened.”
Benzema went on vacation more than three weeks ago after deactivating his Instagram account, followed by 76 million people. The 2022 Ballon d’Or had been in Mauritius for several days, at least until last Monday, according to another source close to the matter.
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“Benzema arrived Thursday evening 17 days late. He should have returned on January 2,” this source told AFP, and the club is “furious about what happened”, having not managed to contact him “for ten days”. His teammates returned to training last Friday.
A meeting will be held with the club’s management and the coach, the Argentinian Marcel Gallardo, to discuss in particular “the future of the player”, affirmed the source, however refuting the idea of a departure this winter of the 36-year-old former Madrilenian, much criticized in recent weeks after a series of disappointing performances.
This season, Karim Benzema has scored 9 goals and 5 assists, far behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 20 goals and 9 assists with Al-Nassr.
Today, “Benzema is the captain of the club and remains committed,” assured this source, but he will not join his teammates on training in Dubai where Al-Ittihad is due to play two friendly matches on January 24 and 28.
Al-Ittihad, 7th in the Saudi Pro League after three consecutive defeats, is the team which has conceded the most goals in the league and which has scored the fewest among the four teams bought by the rich Saudi Sovereign Fund (PIF).
The championship is scheduled to resume on February 7.
