Tension in Saudi Arabia: Gallardo has “hung up” Benzema and his future as Al Ittihad coach is in doubt

A few weeks have passed since then Karim Benzema made headlines around the world for quitting “hanged” at Al Ittihad at the beginning of the year when the team led by Marcelo Gallardo resumed training after their elimination in the Club World Cup.

The 36-year-old French striker would not be very comfortable in the Saudi football league and would have lobbied to go out on loan. However, his contract with the Public Investment Fund (FIP) team is until December 2026.

The former Real Madrid scorer did not show up for Gallardo’s scheduled training sessions from January 3 under unclear circumstances. The player was on holiday in Mauritius and was apparently left uncommunicated due to an accident typhoon which hit the area and canceled many flights.

But later reports emerged that the player was actually forcing his way out and asked to go out on loan (Chelsea were interested in signing him). Al-Ittihad would have accepted the request for the 2022 Ballon d’Or, but would have made it one counterproposal: go to another club in the Saudi Football Super League. But the attacker did not accept.

Last Friday it was there a meeting warmed up among the club’s managers, the French player himself and Marcelo Gallardo to define the footballer’s future, given that he returned to training on Thursday.

Currently, since his return, Benzema is training alone in the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, while his teammates are in Dubai for the preseason, thinking about their return to competition, scheduled for February. The decision to leave him out of the trip was made by Marcelo Gallardo disciplinary reasonsas punishment for the apparent lack of effort of Gallic at the beginning of the year.

Thus, the owners of Al-Ittihad put pressure on Gallardo to reinstate their top figure, taking into account that they are spending millions of dollars and must take advantage of it on the pitch, but the Argentine coach has always been characterized by giving priority to order and harmony. group on any proper noun.

The back and forth between the leadership and the coaching staff is constant. Rumors of a dismissal and even imminent resignation were circulating in the local mediabut the truth is that the Doll He continues with the yellow and black shirt and Benzema trains alone.

Karim Benzema’s numbers in the current season

The former French national team striker has only 9 goals scored and five assists, far from his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo who has 20 goals and 9 assists for Al-Nassr.

It should be underlined that Al Ittihad is one of the teams that has scored the most goals, with 34 so far, and is the team that has scored the fewest goals among the four teams in the hands of the Public Investment Fund (FIP). Furthermore, the team from the city of Jeddah is coming off three consecutive defeats and is in 7th place in the table, 25 points behind leaders Al Hilal.