“Stormy” meeting with the club
Benzema plans to escape “pressure” from Saudi Arabia
January 23, 2024, 4:22 p.m
First Jordan Henderson, now Karim Benzema? The French soccer star has had enough of his adventure in Saudi Arabia and wants to get out of the desert as quickly as possible. The problem: He can’t find a club. Meanwhile, the striker is training individually “for disciplinary reasons.”
French soccer star Karim Benzema apparently wants to end his adventure in Saudi Arabia after just six months. The five-time Champions League winner feels unable to perform at his best due to the “pressure” at Al-Ittihad, which is why he has asked to leave the club “temporarily”. This is reported by the AFP news agency, citing a source close to the club.
Accordingly, Al-Ittihad offered the 36-year-old a loan deal within the Saudi league, but Benzema rejected this. It was said that the ex-French international preferred a commitment to Europe. However, there is “no option” for Benzema to leave this month. When asked by AFP, those close to the attacker, who has a contract in Saudi Arabia until 2026, did not want to confirm the information.
Benzema at Al-Ittihad fans below
After Benzema returned late to Jeddah on Thursday, a day later, according to AFP, a “very lively” and “stormy” meeting took place between the club board, coach Marcel Gallardo and Benzema about the future of the ex-Real Madrid professional. Since his return, the Frenchman has been training individually “for disciplinary reasons”. The league doesn’t start again until mid-February.
Benzema was introduced with great fanfare in the summer as part of the Saudi transfer offensive. The kingdom brought the former world footballer and other stars from the European leagues to the desert so that sportswashing could be used to distract from Riyadh’s massive human rights violations.
Now many Al-Ittihad fans are down with Benzema after numerous wasted chances, and his missed penalty in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup is particularly important to him. Most recently, England international Jordan Henderson terminated his contract with Al-Ettifaq after just six months and signed with Dutch record champions Ajax Amsterdam.