2024-01-23 17:25:02
The French striker would have expressed a desire to “temporarily” leave the Al-Ittihad club, where he arrived last summer.
A possible glitch in Saudi storytelling? According to AFP, which cites a source from the Al-Ittihad club based in Jeddah, French striker Karim Benzema has asked to “temporarily” leave a team where he arrived with great fanfare this summer, for a contract of around 100 million euros per season over two years. The player’s entourage has not yet confirmed but has not denied it either, which lends credibility to the scenario of a rift between the 36-year-old player and the Saudi club.
Who would have, strangely except in a Saudi context where the same sovereign funds are supporting four clubs, suggested changing teams while remaining in the Saudi League. Refusal of the French player, “unable to give the best of himself [dans le championnat saoudien, ndlr] because of the pressure” according to the same source, an argument that is nothing less than grotesque for a player who has played World Cup or Champions League matches for twenty years that are much heavier than a match on the Abha pitch. in front of 300 spectators. Returning late from his vacation in Mauritius, Benzema arguing that it was impossible to leave the island due to a cyclone, the striker was sidelined by his coach, Marcelo Gallardo. He therefore does not participate in the training course which precedes the resumption of the championship on February 7 and trains alone in the club’s facilities in Jeddah.
A context of great weakness
An initiative that we imagine taken in high places, Gallardo attacking a strong symbol since Benzema joined Saudi Arabia only ten months after obtaining the golden ball, contradicting the rule which until now required that only finite players could be attracted by Saudi petrodollars. Despite enormous resources, Al-Ittihad is in a somewhat glorious seventh place in the Saudi League, the beating (3-1) received in mid-December in front of the Egyptians Al Ahly at the Club World Cup having somewhat upset the marketing of a League with increasing competitiveness. Benzema, for his part, was doing well: nine goals and five assists in fifteen games, in a context of great weakness it is true.
Have the Saudis decided to make him a scapegoat? Did the player report his spleen, far from training conditions and European rigor? Arriving this summer like Benzema in Saudi Arabia, in a more modest club (Al-Ettifaq) than Al-Ittihad, English midfielder Jordan Henderson (33) returned to Europe this winter, to Ajax Amsterdam. And the Spanish international Aymeric Laporte demolished the championship on Saturday in As, ensuring that quite a few players shared his opinion: “We, the European players, are negotiating so to speak and we will see if things improve a little because it’s something new for the Saudis too, to have European players who already have a long career. Maybe they’re not used to it and need to adapt to a little more seriousness.”
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