Trouble at Al-Ittihad, Benzema absent and coach makes tough decision on him

The Pro League grew a lot during 2023 mainly thanks to the arrival of top players, who decided to leave Europe in exchange for multi-million salaries at top clubs in Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo led the way and many others followed suit last summer, including Sadio Mane, Neymar Junior, Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez.

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One of the teams that invested the most money in signing stars were Al-Ittihad. They were the champions of the tournament in the 2022/23 season and were aiming to repeat the title. That is why they offered $200 million to Karim Benzema to leave Real Madrid and, once there, surrounded him with quality players such as N'Golo Kanté, Jota and Fabinho.

However, things did not turn out as they had hoped. The team's performance was far from expectations and that is seen in the Pro League standings, where they are in seventh place with 28 points, 25 points behind leaders Al-Hilal. They also failed in the Club World Cup, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Al-Ahly of Egypt. Not even the change of coach (Marcelo Gallardo replaced Nuno Espiritu Santo) was enough to improve results.

Added to these problems was another unexpected issue. Karim Benzema, criticized by fans for his poor performances in recent matches, was absent at the start of the squad's training. The players were supposed to report on Friday to start the preseason in Jeddah, but the French striker did not show up and that is why the coach took a tough decision with him: he did not include him in the list of players who will travel to the tour in the United Arab Emirates.

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What is his explanation?

According to Marca, the explanation given by people close to Karim Benzema is that his absence from training on Friday and Saturday was not voluntary, but due to an unexpected problem. He is in Mauritius and could not leave in time because of a cyclone.