Chelsea suffer blow in pursuit of Karim Benzema who is set to remain at Al-Ittihad
Athletic journalist David Ornstein has provided a fresh update on Karim Benzema’s links to Chelsea and confirmed the strikers will remain at Al-Ittihad for now despite some issues with the club.
Chelsea have also made a loan bid for the former Real Madrid player and the striker is said to be keen on returning to Europe, with Manchester United also interested in adding the forward to their roster on loan.
Meanwhile, the Blues are ramping up their pursuit of a striker, which could be a short-term fix, and they have also added a few strikers to the list, namely Roberto Firmino and Jhon Duan.
But so far, Ornstein understands the striker and club will hold discussion and will sort out the issues which could see Benzema remain at the club despite several clubs’ interest, he said on The Daily Transfer Briefing:
“Karim Benzema, to my understanding, is going to be staying in the Saudi Pro League. That’s the intention of the competition, and that extends to his club, Al-Ittihad, despite there being a bit of an issue going on right now and suggestions that he’s not turning up for training camps, etc.”
“I’m told that he will be reintegrated into training, the meetings will be taking place, and I think there are some planned in Dubai for later this week, and they’ll try and smooth that situation over.”
Even though he had been available, it still would have been tough signing him, given that the Saudi outfit would demand a loan fee and might tell us to cover his high salary. But we can look at other options. Firmino is another possibility while signing Duan would not be wise because we have Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson, so why should we sign a youngster when we already have two?
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Even if we fail to sign any of them, we still have decent options, and if Christopher Nkunku remains fit till the end of the campaign, then we shouldn’t have much trouble scoring goals. Jackson is starting to show his goal-scoring prowess, while Broja will be a good backup.