The 35-year-old striker officially leaves Real Madrid. He should join the Al-Ittihad club for a salary of around 200 million euros per year.
By Adrian Mathieu
© JOSE BRETON / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
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ATfter 14 years together, Real Madrid and Karim Benzema have decided to end their relationship. The Madrid club announced this Sunday the departure of the 35-year-old French striker. “Karim Benzema’s career at Real Madrid has been an example of behavior and professionalism, and has represented the values of our club. He has earned the right to decide his future,” Real said in a statement.
In this decade and a half in Spain, the striker trained in Lyon has known everything: the arrival with the label of prodigy, the difficulties under Mourinho who described him as a cat going on the hunt, the competition in attack, but above all, and above all, titles and accomplishments. Karim Benzema leaves with his head held high with 26 titles in total, including 5 Champions Leagues, a competition in which he has regularly shone, especially in 2021-2022 with 15 goals scored. He is even the fourth top scorer of all time in C1 behind Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski.
While with the Blues his story will have been eventful until the end, with a delicate end and his last minute absence from the 2022 World Cup, Benzema invited himself to the Madrid pantheon with Di Stefano, Casillas and Raul. “He was already a mix between Zidane for his class and Ronaldo for his goals. And over the years it has improved. He would have deserved to win the Ballon d’Or years ago, but everything eventually comes to pass. I’m proud to have signed him, he’s the best player in the world,” said Florentino Pérez last November.
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And now ? At 35, Karim Benzema knows he is at the twilight of his career and has decided to leave before declining. Physically, after giving a lot, he had an up and down season but still managed to maintain consistency in goal with 30 goals in all competitions. Some still hope to see him come full circle by returning to Olympique Lyonnais to end his career there, but this possibility seems unlikely today. With such a salary level and above all the desire to have a very competitive team, it is difficult to imagine OL being able to offer him the ideal conditions for his return.
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The most likely track remains Saudi Arabia, which offers him a golden bridge to come and play in the Gulf. The French international could thus receive nearly 200 million euros per year, which would be one of the biggest salaries in the history of football. The Saudi state television channel Al-Ekhbariya even announced that the case could soon be recorded. “The Al-Ittihad club has reached an official agreement with Frenchman Karim Benzema to join their ranks in a contract which extends over two seasons,” the media said.
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In the Saudi Pro League, Karim Benzema would thus find his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nassr, with there too a story of big money: the Portuguese precisely receives nearly 200 million euros annually. But the former Madrid duo could soon be joined by former Barca rival Lionel Messi, who has just officially left Paris Saint-Germain. The Argentinian is ardently courted by Al-Hilal who is ready to offer him the biggest salary in the history of football. We are talking about an amount estimated at 400, even 500 million euros per year.
Overflowing with ambitions in the world of sport with the desire to host the 2030 World Cup, Riyadh seems ready for anything, and above all to provide the necessary means to develop and improve its image. The likely arrival of Karim Benzema next season is totally embedded in this strategy. The Lyon supporters were no doubt dreaming of another outcome, but that is the reality of modern football…