Benzema to the Premier League? England giants target the French striker

Karim Benzema shocked the world last summer, when he decided to leave Real Madrid to join Al-Ittihad. At the time he was the reigning Ballon d'Or winner and the Spanish side's top star, so his departure to Saudi Arabia was unexpected news. Beyond the sporting challenge of competing in a new league and the life experience of getting to know a new country, one of the main motivations for him was the impressive salary he was offered: in total almost $200 million a year, according to reports.

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However, money does not make for happiness. The French striker's first months at his new club have not been positive. In the Pro League they are in seventh place in the standings with 28 points, 25 points behind leaders Al-Hilal. And in the Club World Cup they were eliminated early by Al-Ahly of Egypt in the quarterfinals. For these reasons, fans have been very critical of Karim, from whom they expected better performances.

But that is not all. At the end of last year he was absent for several days from the team's training sessions, something that was repeated at the beginning of 2024. In fact, he was supposed to return at the end of last week together with his teammates, but he has not yet done so and that is why coach Marcelo Gallardo excluded him from the list of players called up to travel to Dubai.

With this scenario, there are more and more rumors about Benzema's possible departure from Al-Ittihad. And one of his destinations could be the Premier League. According to The Telegraph, Chelsea are interested in signing him to solve their striker crisis: Nicolas Jackson is in the Africa Cup with the Senegal National Team and Christopher Nkunku is injured. That's why Karim could be the solution for Mauricio Pochettino's team during this January transfer window.

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He is not the only option

In addition to Karim Benzema, reports indicate that Chelsea also targeted three other strikers. One of them is Roberto Firmino, who left Liverpool this season to join Al-Ahli and is experiencing a similar situation to Benzema. The others are Napoli's Victor Osimhen and Brentford's Ivan Toney.