It’s a football story as we like it, full of fractures, unsaid words and unfinished chapters. The relationship between Didier Deschamps and Karim Benzema fueled the chronicle for years, until a breakup which seemed definitive. However, a scenario that no one would have dared to imagine could well see the light of day. In the midst of a sporting crisis, the Saudi club Al-Ittihad has a crazy ambition: to bring together the two men under the same colors.
A club in search of a savior
Champion last season, Al-Ittihad is going through a nightmare. Relegated to eighth place in the championship, the Jeddah club is undermined by internal tensions. Karim Benzema, the star of the project, seems isolated, and the methods of coach Sergio Conceição no longer work. Faced with a divided locker room which seems to have abandoned its coach, the leaders are looking for a name capable of restoring order and authority. And their dream has a name: Didier Deschamps.
According to information from The Teamthe Saudi club would very seriously consider making the Blues coach its top priority once his contract with the FFF ends, after the 2026 World Cup. Deschamps himself has not closed the door to an adventure in Saudi Arabia, even if he remains, as usual, focused on his mission with the France team. But the idea is launched, and it is anything but trivial.
Deschamps and Benzema, high-risk cohabitation
If this project came to fruition, it would feature an explosive reunion. Imagining Deschamps giving his instructions to Benzema on a training ground is now fiction. Saudi leaders see it as an immense media and symbolic coup: reconciling two legends of French football to embody the revival of the club. The idea of reforming a trio with N’Golo Kanté, another 2018 world champion present at the club, makes supporters fantasize.
The fact remains that this ambitious plan is strewn with uncertainties. There is no guarantee that Karim Benzema, whose contract runs until 2026, will still be at Al-Ittihad at that time. But the message sent is powerful. In the new landscape of world football where Saudi financial power is reshaping careers, even the most complex stories can hope for a new page. It remains to be seen whether this will be written in a tone of redemption or unease.
