So it can go that fast. A week ago, Karim Benzema (36) looked like he was on his way out in Saudi Arabia, and now he proudly appears on the cover of fashion magazine GQ Middle East. “He seems to have found peace with himself in the Middle East.”
There were a lot of signals. Karim Benzema was not having a good time at the Etihad. He sent his cat to certain team commitments during the off-season and left on vacation without permission. The employer did not appreciate the fact that he could not be reached for ten days. Also, his relationship with coach Marcelo Gallardo was not ideal.
The French striker has been criticized, also because things did not go as he had hoped when he signed with Al-Ittihad last summer for three years. His team ranks only fifth this season. After a 5-2 defeat to Al-Nassr led by Cristiano Ronaldo, he received so much criticism and boos that he temporarily deleted his Instagram account. Rumors spread of his departure. Leon offered a way out, the club that invented him as a professional.
Benzema denied these rumours. He said he wants to continue supporting the project in Saudi Arabia. His Instagram account is back too, although he has taken all of his football-related content offline – only the image holding the Ballon d'Or survived the selection process, as well as images from certain shootouts. Suddenly, Benzema graced the cover of GQ Middle East magazine. From the interview with GQ magazine: “I am more than just a footballer here, I am also an ambassador. Our challenge is to equalize the level here with the level of European competitions. I will be the one who decides how and when I will stop.”
However, the fire surrounding Benzema has not been completely extinguished yet. After he angrily left the training field earlier this week because he refused to train individually, the coach removed him from the squad for the match against Al-Tai. It is possible that his focus will return fully to football, but will the coach allow this in the coming weeks?
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