In many ways, it makes sense. Karim Benzema wants temporary refuge from his hollow existence as an overpaid and under-supported Saudi Arabian show pony and Chelsea wouldn’t mind a former Ballon d’Or-winning striker.
Rumours of a six-month loan move to bridge the gap between now and a potential summer assault for Ivan Toney or Victor Osimhen appear logical, as do reports Benzema has found the transition from Madrid to Jeddah somewhat uncomfortable.
Yet Chelsea granting Benzema asylum would be a reversion to the celebrity-driven myopia of the Roman Abramovich era. It’s not that it didn’t work as a philosophy at the time, it’s that it clearly isn’t the plan now.
Todd Boehly and co have almost exclusively bought players below the age of 25 on contracts as long as eight-and-a-half years. Of course, older heads are eventually going to be needed in the interest of experience and leadership and balance, but does Benzema provide those, even in the short term?
Yes, Benzema is Real Madrid’s second-highest goalscorer ever, just two years from winning football’s greatest individual prize. But he is also a famously complex character – and that’s a euphemism doing some heavy lifting.
Benzema spent nearly six years out of the France squad for his role in a sex-tape blackmail plot. He also went to trial for soliciting a 16-year-old prostitute, and was found not guilty because he didn’t know she was 16.
Even as a teammate, in March 2020 he called himself “Formula 1”, while France’s all-time top goalscorer Olivier Giroud was “karting”, before stropping off after picking up an injury before the 2022 World Cup.
He now appears to be agitating to leave Saudi Arabia six months after becoming one of the league’s new faces, on one of the largest contracts ever offered to a footballer.
Is this the kind of footballer or man Chelsea want providing an example to their impressionable and volatile, not to mention valuable, young squad? Benzema is a name and personality that would consume everything at Chelsea, dominate the headlines and attention and discourse constantly.
This could be hugely disruptive to Mauricio Pochettino’s young squad. While their away form is still patchy to poor, Chelsea are now unbeaten in 11 home games, including winning their last seven. They have breached the top half of the Premier League and reached the final of the Carabao Cup.
This is progress, but it’s fragile. Their previously disparate assortment of current and recent teenagers are beginning to coagulate into something coherent, to develop the necessary relationships to at least look like a cohesive unit. Benzema’s arrival could swing a sledgehammer through this progress.
And what of Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea’s supposed pet project up top? Jackson has an eight-year contract. He’s here for the long-haul.
Yet signing Benzema would be a very public announcement that they don’t trust him, that he’s not good enough, that they don’t even think he can hold the fort until a viable alternative is available in the summer.
Other rumoured names Callum Wilson or Jhon Duran would be signings to both compete with and support Jackson. Benzema would only come to Stamford Bridge with the promise of a starting berth. For six months, the circus would come to town, then it would head back to Saudi Arabia.
And what’s the upside of a potential Benzema move? Is it really more likely to push Chelsea past Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final? Is it more likely to secure Pochettino a place in the Europa Conference League? If they got there, would fans and players even respect Europe’s third tier?
Maybe there would be a few goals in the short term, but remember Radamel Falcao (10 games, one goal)? Gonzalo Higuain (18 games, five goals)? Andriy Shevchenko (77 games, 22 goals)? We’ve seen this one before.
But if, as is now said repeatedly around Chelsea, this is a long-term project, then why disrupt that with a short-term hire which would also shatter the wage structure Boehly has worked so hard to lower? Only four players at the club now earn £200,000 or more – there’s every chance Benzema would expect double that.
Signing Benzema would be a sad return to the old Chelsea, a jarring launch from the current extreme to the former. While the club’s current transfer philosophy has its flaws, there is a plan they believe in and it appears to be bearing fruit. If you’re going to spend a season telling fans to trust the process, at least show you trust it too.
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