Karim Benzema set to sign one-year contract extension with Real Madrid… after turning down deal until 2024 as French striker ‘wants to wait and see what physical shape he is in by age 35’
- Karim Benzema is set to sign a new deal with Real Madrid until 2023
- A report in Spanish newspaper ABC said he turned down a contract until 2024
- The Frenchman wants to wait and see what condition he is in two years’ time
- Benzema has become talismanic for Real since Cristiano Ronaldo left in 2018
Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema is poised to sign a one-year contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2023, according to a report in Spain.
Benzema is about to enter his 13th season with Real and in the last three campaigns has really come to life and turned into a talismanic figure after playing a supporting role to Cristiano Ronaldo for so long.
The striker scored 30 goals in all competitions last season and his form was so good he managed to convince France coach Didier Deschamps to recall him to the national team after six years in the wilderness for his involvement in a blackmail scandal against former international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.
Karim Benzema is set to sign a new Real Madrid deal until 2023, according to newspaper ABC
Benzema’s form has been so good that he returned to the France squad after a six-year exile
And a report in ABC said the club are so happy with the striker that they offered him a contract until 2024 but he turned it down as he is unsure what physical state he will be in by then.
Instead, the Frenchman has agreed to sign a new deal until 2023, when he will be over the age of 35, before committing again to the Spanish giants.
Benzema, who is currently under contract until 2022, recently tested positive for coronavirus but has got over the illness and is about to resume pre-season training after being forced into quarantine for 10 days.
The report said he will put pen to paper on the new deal ‘in a matter of days’ on the contract extension, taking a 10% pay cut in the first year to help the club mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic before seeing his salary rise by 15% in his second year to compensate.
‘He has made it clear in the deal that if he does not feel in the right shape he will leave the club,’ added the report.
‘The striker doesn’t want to be a burden to the club that has given him everything. He knows how demanding a team he is at and will not weigh them down.’
Benzema had a superb partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real between 2009 and 2018
But he has truly excelled since Ronaldo left for Juventus, scoring 30 goals last season for Real
Benzema has spent most of his career at Real after joining from boyhood club Lyon in 2009 for £30million.
At first he struggled to make his mark in a side that had just signed Ronaldo, Kaka and already had Gonzalo Higuain and club legend Raul among their attack.
Indeed, Jose Mourinho remarked in 2010 that starting Benzema up front on his own was like ‘going hunting with a cat’.
But Benzema hit his stride as Real stormed to the LaLiga title in 2011/12 as the Frenchman scored 21 goals and never looked back.
He learned to dovetail with Ronaldo and built up a tremendous understanding on the pitch with the Portuguese and since Real’s all-time top scorer left in 2018 for Juventus, it has been Benzema who has been leading the line and carrying the team on his back.
This has been a summer of change for Real, with captain Sergio Ramos leaving after 16 years and Raphael Varane abandoing the club for Manchester United.
Bu the club still has faith in some of its most experienced players, with Benzema set to follow Luka Modric, 35, in signing a new deal at the club.
