Melanie Faure
Thirteen years after the departure of Karim Benzema from Olympique Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas still covets the French striker. In an exclusive interview granted to Europe 1 this Saturday, the president of OL reiterated his admiration for the football player, evoking the “dream” of reviving a common history in his club.
If they no longer evolve in the same club, Jean-Michel Aulas and Karim Benzema keep very strong links. The historic president of Olympique Lyonnais demonstrated this again in an exclusive interview with Europe 1 to be published this Saturday, in which he expressed all his admiration for the man who scored more than 300 goals for Real Madrid. The manager has expressed his interest in a potential return of “KB9” to Lyon.
A club that Karim Benzema knows well: he took his first steps there and won four French Championship titles between 2005 and 2008. “Of course as soon as we have the possibility of being able to bring him back, then I don’t know how or if it will be as a player, as an educator,” said Jean-Michel Aulas at the microphone of Europe 1. “But in any case, it’s true that it’s a dream.”
A successful career at Real Madrid
But a return of Karim Benzema, marred by court cases, seems unlikely for the time being. The French striker is the driving force of the club “Merengue”, as he demonstrated again during his last performance in the Clasico against FC Barcelona on Wednesday. Sporting prowess of which Jean-Michel Aulas is fully aware, conceding about Florentino Pérez, president of Real Madrid: “I do not see him letting go of Karim.”