There’s no smoke without fire, and there’s been plenty of it billowing from the Karim Benzema rumour mill in the last few weeks, with the French striker reportedly unhappy at Al-Ittihad and looking for a move. After apparently reporting back for training 17 days later than expected, speculation is rife that the veteran striker might finally be heading to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
Plenty seem to be disregarding the impact Benzema could have at a Premier League club, firstly due to his age (he turned 36 last month) and secondly because of a perceived lack of ‘top’ competitive action during his seven months in Saudi Arabia. But those doubters have too quickly forgotten the Frenchman’s qualities.
Although it paled in comparison to his career-high 44 competitive goals for Real Madrid across 2021-22 as they won La Liga and the UEFA Champions League (helping him take the 2022 Ballon D’or), 2022-23 saw Benzema score 31 times for the Spanish giants – his second-best tally in a single season at the club.
That 31-goal haul was only bettered by four players in the top five European leagues – Erling Haaland (52), Kylian Mbappé (41), Robert Lewandowski (33) and Harry Kane (32) – while Benzema scored one more than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (30). Perhaps because of Madrid’s collective failure to win a single trophy last season, Benzema’s personal goalscoring feats were somewhat glossed over.
