The last hours witnessed dramatic developments regarding the transfer of Karim Benzema, captain of the “Al-Ittihad Saudi Club”, to “Al-Hilal”, as strong indications emerged that the deal had suddenly faltered.
Benzema has a contract with Al-Ittihad until the summer of 2026, but the sharp differences between the two parties prompted the French star to decide to leave early.
Benzema rejected the renewal offer submitted by the Al-Ittihad administration, which included that he would not receive any salary and be satisfied with 100% image rights, considering that an unacceptable offer that did not suit him, and he informed the administration of his unwillingness to play again in the team’s jersey.
In light of this crisis, the “Al Hilal” management entered into direct and serious negotiations to include the French striker in a deal that was expected to be the most prominent in the current transfer period, before recent reports revealed a sudden faltering in the negotiations.
According to what Patrick Berger, correspondent for Sky Sports, said through his account on the “X” platform, the deal to transfer Karim Benzema to Al Hilal is on the verge of collapse, in an unexpected development that reflects a state of confusion in the Saudi transfer market.
It is noteworthy that Benzema joined Al-Ittihad in the summer of 2023 on a free transfer, after a historic career that lasted 14 seasons with Spanish Real Madrid, during which he won the Champions League title five times, before contributing to leading “Al-Ameed” to achieve the Saudi League title last season.
The 38-year-old player recently missed Al-Ittihad’s matches against Al-Fateh, which ended in a draw (2-2), and Al-Najma, which the team won (1-0), in light of the continuing crisis with the administration.
In a related context, sports journalist Khaled Al-Qahtani indicated, through his account on the “X” platform, that the Benzema deal was not the only one to fail, explaining that there are other pending deals, including the transfer of N’Golo Kante, the star of “Al-Ittihad”, to the Turkish Fenerbahce, in exchange for contracting with the Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri.
He confirmed that the contracts have been reviewed, but the deals are still stalled without a final decision.
This coincided with a state of anger expressed by media reports about Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Al-Nasr, against the backdrop of the ongoing negotiations between “Al-Hilal” and Benzema, which indicated that “Al-Don” decided to miss his team’s match against Riyadh, scheduled for Monday evening, in protest against what he described as the absence of the principle of fair competition and equal opportunities in the current transfer market. (Erm News)
