Karim Benzema’s former agent has revealed he came close to leaving the Santiago Bernabeu during Jose Mourinho’s time as Real Madrid manager.
The 32-year-old’s former agent Karim Djaziri has insisted that Benzema wanted to go back to his old club Lyon during the 2010-11 season.
The striker was in and out of the Los Blancos side during Mourinho’s first season in charge and was considering leaving.
‘Today, with the situation he is in at Real Madrid, he is at the summit of what a footballer could want,’ Djaziri told OL TV.
‘To play at Real, being very close to the manager, adored by the fans. Today, it is not foreseeable (that he returns to Lyon).
‘Aside from that, since he left Lyon, Karim has had one desire, to come back to Lyon.
‘Will it be as a player… It remains a regret for Karim to have not gone further in the Champions League (with Lyon).
‘When things weren’t working with Mourinho, he said to me: “I want to go back to Lyon”.
‘I said to him: “no you are going force through and you will make it”. And he did it. It is in the corner of his head.
‘Yes I think that it is possible [that he goes back to Lyon]. If he still has legs and he says that now is the moment to go and do something good, he will come back.
‘If it is not as a player, I can see him come back to Lyon in another role maybe. I know that he really wants that.’
Madrid’s president Florentino Perez called for Benzema to be given the Ballon d’Or after he scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season to hand his team the title.
‘Benzema should be the Balon d’Or,’ said Madrid’s president. ‘I have not seen any player have as good a year as him.’ Real Madrid’s French forward has 21 goals for the season and is just two behind La Liga top scorer Messi.
Madrid captain Sergio Ramos then asked Perez to give him a new contract, and Zinedine Zidane said winning the league topped his Champions League hat-trick.