The information launched by various sources of a return of Karim Benzema to Olympique Lyonnais on Monday set social networks ablaze. According to some colleagues, the US boss, John Textor, was working to bring back the club’s idol, 36 years old, this winter at Groupama Stadium. In the evening, the hopes of the Rhone supporters were dampened by information from the Team which refuted such a hypothesis and the Lyon leaders let it leak that such a transfer was not possible. The 2022 Ballon d’Or, who receives 100 million euros per season at Al Ittihad with a two-year contract, remains very discreet.
This Tuesday afternoon our AFP colleagues say that the Frenchman asked to leave his club, feeling under “pressure” at Al-Ittihad. The player’s entourage has not confirmed. But this new episode summarizes the delicate situation of the main person concerned with his new bosses. The impasse seems inevitable.
Recently, Benzema had only been talked about, through his lawyer, with complaints against Éric Zemmour and Gérald Darmanin a few days apart. Regarding the president of Reconquest, the former Madrilenian is suing him for comments linking him to the assassins of Professor Samuel Paty. “What I know is that he is a Muslim who wants to apply sharia and that sharia provides for jihad and that jihad means killing Dominique Bernard, it means killing Samuel Paty,” said Eric Zemmour . All these people think that Sharia law is a divine law and that it is binding on them. »
Regarding the Ministry of the Interior, the latter accused the former Blues striker of being “in notorious links” with the Muslim Brotherhood last October. The counterattack comes with a complaint for defamation. But apart from his advisor’s speech, Karim Benzema remains discreet. In front of the microphones and on social networks, where he cut his Instagram account, followed by more than 76 million subscribers.
It must also be said that his story with Saudi Arabia does not go as planned. Criticism rained down on him from supporters, disappointed with his performances (9 goals and 5 assists in 15 championship matches), his attitude sometimes considered nonchalant, and the results of their team (7th, 25 points behind the leader , Al-Hilal), defeated by Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr at the end of December (2-5). Privately, he would not be thrilled by the level of the Saudi Pro League, light years away from what he experienced within the biggest club in the world, in La Liga and the Champions League. But last summer, he chose money rather than the sporting project, a decision that he must now assume.
Late at the start of the year for the resumption of training for his club, due in particular to an impossibility of leaving Mauritius due to cyclone Belal, the native of Bron finds himself in the sights of the Saudis. Some local and Spanish media suggest that he is currently in Jeddah, while his team, coached by Marcelo Gallardo, is in Dubai for the pre-season. A situation which rekindles the debate on his relationship with his coach, his club and his future in Saudi Arabia. From there to imagining him returning to OL, already unable to keep his best players in the off-season (Barcola, Lukeba) and who is trying to stay in Ligue 1, the project seems very utopian today. But whatever he does, Karim Benzema gets people talking about him. At Real Madrid, it was mainly for his performances on the pitch. In Saudi Arabia, the story is quite different.
