Chelsea ‘showing interest’ in plausible Karim Benzema mortgage from Al-Ittihad

Benzema is finding that money doesn’t consistently buy you happiness (see also: Jordan Henderson) as he’s reportedly “not happy” with how his first six beneficial months in Saudi Arabia have gone.

His team, Al-Ittihad, the defending champions, have lost three in a row to fall to seventh in the Saudi Pro League, considerably off the pace of Al-Hilal, who have almost twice as many points, and proper below the top-three that qualify for the AFC Champions League. Benzema himself does have 9 desires in the league and twelve in all competitions, alternatively he’s now not even the pinnacle scorer on his team, let on my own in the league.

Big Benz has curiously come beneath some criticism for all that, and he’s now “exploring his options” and “mulling” his exit. Obviously, Al-Ittihad are “reluctant” to let him leave, even on loan, however hypothesis has solely grown in the ultimate couple days. And with a Real Madrid return dominated out, Chelsea have been amongst the first names stated as a achievable destination. (Other names include Arsenal, Manchester United, and simply about any pinnacle Premier League crew different than Manchester City.)

And that sounds delightful on paper, however with Benzema these days celebrating his thirty sixth birthday, we would perchance be reminded of how loans of this nature have rarely, if ever worked out nicely for us. You would perchance think that there is no danger that any one of his tune file may want to in no way ever ever have a look at in the footsteps of Falcao, Higuaín, or Pato … but the black cloud of misfortune that follows every and every Chelsea striker round is no longer so simple to escape.

Do we choose a confirmed goalscorer? Yes, probably. Could Benzema fill that role? Most likely. Will this happen? … I wager we’ll see, although my guess is a affiliation no as this is all very speculative proper now. Can’t see Benzema looking out badly enough to come muck it up in midtable with us instead.