Official: Karim Benzema signs for Al-Ittihad
Freshly crowned Saudi Arabian champions, Al-Ittihad announced on Tuesday evening the signing of Karim Benzema on a three-year contract.
A few hours after bidding farewell to Real Madrid at an official ceremony, Karim Benzema officially signed a contract until June 2026 with Al-Ittihad, who were crowned Saudi Arabian champions a few days ago for the 9th time in their history.
A legend with Real Madrid, with whom he won 25 titles and scored 354 goals, Benzema will earn almost 200 million euros net per year in Saudi Arabia, between his salary, image rights and various commercial deals.
Benzema is here 🤩✍️
— Ittihad Club (@ittihad_en) June 6, 2023
A new tiger will roar 🐅
Welcome to Ittihad!Benzema2Ittihadhere2inspireKSA pic.twitter.com/I3GEm90fRB
For Saudi Arabia, which intends to invest massively in soccer, recruiting the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner is a huge coup just a few months after having already attracted five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Al Nassr.
The country is now hoping to convince other stars to strengthen the Saudi Premier League during the summer mercato. Lionel Messi, N'Golo Kanté, Sergio Busquets, Alexis Sanchez and Hugo Lloris are all being courted. A far from exhaustive list.