2024-01-19 17:58:01
Riyadh (AFP)
French striker Karim Benzema, who had been away from his team, the Saudi Football Association, for weeks, returned to Jeddah, following 17 days of absence.
The international striker had taken a three-day leave from his club “due to special circumstances,” and traveled to Madrid on December 28, following deactivating his account on Instagram, where 76 million people follow him.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was on the African island of Mauritius for several days until last Monday, according to another source close to the matter.
The source said, “Benzema arrived 17 days late. He was supposed to return on January 2,” adding that the club was “very angry regarding what happened” following losing contact with him “for ten days.” Benzema’s teammates resumed training last Friday, the 12th of this month.
A meeting will be held with the management and Argentine coach Marcelo Gallardo to discuss “the player’s future,” according to what was confirmed by the source who denied the idea of the former Spanish Real Madrid striker leaving this winter.
Benzema, 36 years old, was subjected to a torrent of sharp criticism, following going through an unstable period with the team he joined last summer.
The Frenchman scored 9 goals and made 5 assists, far behind his former teammate at Real Madrid, the Spanish Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, the Al-Nasr striker, who tops the scorers’ rankings with 20 goals, in addition to 9 assists.
The source stressed that Benzema “is the team’s leader and is committed to staying there,” but he will not join his teammates in a training camp in Dubai, where Al-Ittihad is playing two friendly matches on January 24 and 28.
The defending champion, Al-Ittihad, ranks seventh in the league with 28 points, 25 points behind leaders Al-Hilal.
The team lost its last three matches in all competitions to Al-Nasr with a big score of 2-5, Al-Raed 1-3 in the league, and Al-Ahly of Egypt 1-3 in the Club World Cup.
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