"2023 the worst year in Real Madrid's history” - Karim Benzema’s fitness coach drops worrying transfer hint on Instagram
Karim Benzema's fitness coach Javier Atalya has dropped a worrying transfer hint regarding the French striker. This amid growing concerns surrounding his Real Madrid future.
The highy experienced forward is currently among a couple of first team players whose contacts with Los Blancos is expected to expire this summer.
Despite several speculations insisting that Benzema would extend his stay at the Santiago Bernabeu by a another year, the extension still hasn't been made official.
As such, there could still be a possibility that he leaves should talks about a contract extension with Los Blancos not be authentic.
Karim Benzema’s decision is expected by the end of this week. No intention to take lot of time after receiving official bid from Saudi last Friday. ⌛️⚪️🇸🇦
Crucial hours & days for Karim’s future. https://t.co/8FRHs67kms
At age 35, Benzema is already in the twilight of his football career and his form during the just-concluded 2022-23 football campaign points to the fact that he may now be past his peak years.
The veteran French striker failed to replicate his impeccable form from the 2021-22 campaign, which won him his first ever Ballon d'Or.
Injuries and physical issues affected his performance during the 2022-23 season as he missed a combined total of 14 games for Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, the Frenchman's fitness coach has made some unclear comments via his Instagram story, which could be either linked to the player's future or fitness performance.
Karim Benzema fitness coach reposted this on his IG:
📲 Karim Benzema fitness coach reposted this on his IG:
“2023, the worst year in Real Madrid's history.” https://t.co/UUkD77QXJP
In his words, his caption on the platform stated:
"2023 the worst year in Real Madrid's history"
It's left to be seen as to what exactly Atalaya meant by his recent post on Instagram.
How was Karim Benzema's fitness record during the 2022-23 football campaign for Real Madrid
The French striker didn't really enjoy the best of the 2022-23 football campaign. Injuries and fitness related issues saw him miss a couple of games for Los Blancos.
His travial also even saw him miss the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar with France, forced to pull out of the French squad due to injury.
Overall, Benzema was sidelined for a combined total of 85 games during the 2022-23 football campaign, thus missing 14 games for Los Blancos as seen in Transfermarket.
Some of the issues he battled with included muscle injuries, problems with his left hip flexor, muscle fatigue, and an ankle injury he picked up in March after a 1-0 Champions League win against Liverpool.
He did, however, manage to register a combined total of 29 goals and four assists for Real Madrid during the 2022-23 football campaign.