Real Madrid News
Benzema’s relationship with France manager Deschamps ‘not good’ – report
Karim Benzema was not part of the France national team setup that won the FIFA World Cup four years ago in Russia.
The centre-forward had not been considered for selection for Les Bleus for an extended period due to his involvement in the Mathieu Valbuena blackmail scandal.
However, the 34-year-old had recently made his comeback onto the international scene and helped France win the UEFA Nations League last year. And, he was expected to play a starring role at the World Cup, having won the Ballon d’Or earlier this year.
But a freak training injury right before the tournament saw him get ruled out of the mega-event in Qatar. Back at Real Madrid, Benzema has recovered fully and returned to training, while he even got some minutes in the friendly against Leganes.
It has sparked speculation about him being recalled to the France setup for the World Cup final considering that manager Didier Deschamps never replaced him from the squad.
However, when posed the question about the possibility, the Les Bleus boss was not keen to respond.
Amidst this L’Equipe (h/t AS) is reporting that Benzema’s relationship with the France manager, Deschamps, is not good.
The report indicates that the Les Bleus boss has not forgotten that Benzema did not thank him during his Ballon d’Or acceptance speech earlier this year. It is further suggested that the relationship had not been all too great prior to that as well.
It is also said that Benzema’s absence was not greatly felt by the France dressing room following his injury just before their World Cup opener.
France president Emmanuel Macron has sent out invitations to injured players to attend the World Cup final to support the national team. The likes of Paul Pogba, Christopher Nkunku and Benzema, among others, are believed to have received invitations.
However, at this point, there is no clarity on whether the Real Madrid captain will travel to Qatar even though the club would be happy to let him make the trip.
It is astounding that despite being the biggest club in Spain, Real Madrid do not have many Spanish players to show for it.
Los Blancos do indeed boast of a special diversity in the dressing room, but their lack of locally trained players could pose problems according to MARCA.
The Spanish outlet confirms that UEFA does not mandate the inclusion of any minimum number of locally grown players for a club. However, the Spanish federation stipulates that a club in Spain must boast of at least eight players who meet a specific set of conditions.
Of the aforementioned eight candidates, there must be at least four players who have spent three seasons or 36 months at the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Currently, only Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Mariano make up the required number on that front.
The problem, however, arises with the condition for the other four players in the list of eight. RFEF stipulates that the second set of four players must have completed at least 36 months in teams attached to the federation of Spain between the ages of 15 and 21.
Only Jesus Vallejo, Alvaro Odriozola, Marco Asensio and Dani Ceballos tick the aforementioned box. However, all four players have uncertain futures at the club and are well-placed to depart in the summer.
There are thus big decisions to be taken over the transfer strategy for June. Real Madrid can work ways to ship all four players out, it would require the re-integration of players like Sergio Arribas, Miguel Gutierrez or Fran Garcia to ensure the fulfilment of the criteria.
With both Vallejo and Odriozola seemingly frozen out of Ancelotti’s plans, their departures from Santiago Bernabeu appear inevitable. Thus, the management could be forced to renew one of Asensio or Ceballos come June.
