The sums mentioned at the time of the signing of Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia have turned some heads.
If Cristiano Ronaldo will have been the first to join Saudi Arabia last winter, Karim Benzema will remain as the one who launched, this summer, the incredible exodus to the Saudi championships. Despite his status at Real Madrid, the latest Ballon d’Or did not hesitate to turn his back on European football to join Al-Ittihad and his millions.
The choice of the Frenchman was obviously motivated in large part by the incredible amount of money promised by the Saudi leaders. The craziest figures have circulated on this subject, some evoking a salary of some 200 million euros a year, double what Cristiano Ronaldo receives at Al-Nassr. But according to Romain Molina, the real salary of KB9 would be much lower and the figures mentioned in the media have given rise to cruel disappointments.
” The arrival of Saudi Arabia was a bit of an absolute fantasy. Many thought they were going to recover a lot of money. Except that it’s not logical, the idea in Saudi Arabia is to pay as little transfer as possible and behind a little more salary, signing bonus. The real problem in European football has been the amounts announced. I think it’s also the fault of the media who have been exploited by certain agents, who wanted to brag. It was the fair, there are plenty of deals that have messed up. They also managed very badly in Arabia, it went all over the place and it ate everywhere. Problem, the sums announced at the beginning, Benzema 200M€, it was fake”, thus struck the journalist specializing in football underwear.
“It prompted others to say to themselves: ‘Benzema is taking 200, I’m going to take 150.’ No, Benzema, he does not take €200m. I think it’s about 30M€ per year in salary, he continued. That’s all, it’s already huge. What makes negotiations abort, for example Lukaku who thought to claim sums similar to what he could hear.”
