{"id":16476,"date":"2024-02-25T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T15:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saudi-league.com\/?p=16476"},"modified":"2024-02-25T15:04:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T15:04:58","slug":"benzema-raises-controversy-in-saudi-arabia-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saudi-league.com\/league-news\/benzema-raises-controversy-in-saudi-arabia-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Benzema raises controversy in Saudi Arabia again"},"content":{"rendered":"

France’s Karim Benzema, a striker for the Al-itthad of Jeddah , restored controversy over his future with the Saudi team, as he did not rule out the possibility of his departure.<\/p>\n

Benzema is living through a difficult period with the al-itthad of\u00a0 Jeddah for more than one reason, most notably the decline in his technical level and the crisis of his exclusion from the Dubai camp last January, which ended with him being stripped of the armband.<\/p>\n

Benzema has scored 12 goals in 22 appearances for the\u00a0 al-itthad of Jeddah\u00a0 in all tournaments since joining early this season, but has not scored since December 15, while he scored a reverse goal against Nafbakhur Uzbekistan in the AFL.<\/p>\n

Although he was in contract with the al-itthad\u00a0 until June 2026, he did not deny the possibility of separating from the dean by the end of the current season.<\/p>\n

Asked about his future, Benzema said, “We’ll see what happens, I can’t talk about my future right now, I don’t know what could happen.”<\/p>\n

But the 36-year-old striker added in remarks to SBC Saudi Arabia “the atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium is beautiful and distinctive, the public support is strong, pushing the players to win.”<\/p>\n

Benzema’s comments on his future come after rumours spread that he wanted to leave the Etihad during the last winter transfer window.<\/p>\n

Benzema’s name was linked to a move to his former team Lyon, as were a number of Premier League clubs, Premier League.<\/p>\n

Karim Benzema Numbers with al-itthad<\/strong><\/p>\n

This season, Benzema<\/a> managed to find the net 12 time, providing 5 assists in 21 of his matches with the al-itthad, across all competitions, and possessing 9 goals in the Saudi Roshen League, based on Transfair Market data.
\nThe al-itthad is not at its best during the current season. The Tigers are in fifth place in the Saudi Roshen League ranking table, with 34 points, 22 ahead of the leaders al-hilal, and 15 points behind the runner-up al-nasr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France’s Karim Benzema, a striker for the Al-itthad of Jeddah , restored controversy over his future with the Saudi team,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[175,99],"class_list":["post-16476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league-news","tag-al-itthad","tag-benzema"],"yoast_head":"\nBenzema raises controversy in Saudi Arabia again | Saudi League<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"France's Karim Benzema, a 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