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Real Madrid attacker Karim Benzema has revealed that he never considered leaving the club, and is satisfied by his performances in the 2010-11 season. He believes that the setbacks he faced only made him stronger, and he is looking forward to making a bigger impact in the years to come.
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Benzema arrived at the Bernabeu amongst much hype and hoopla, being the blue eyed boy of Ligue 1 for many a year and expected to deliver a flurry of goals for Los Blancos. But he failed to settle in during his first season at the club, a stop-start year that saw him get sporadic playing opportunities and miss many gilt edged chances.
Although his graph went up during his second year at Madrid, clubs like Arsenal and Juventus have been linked with him during the summer. Benzema dismissed all these rumours as just hearsay when he spoke to media outlet AS. He said that the option of leaving the club never entered his mind and being left on the bench was part and parcel of playing at a big club like Madrid.
He said-
“I never saw myself leaving Real Madrid. I will never give up in difficult times. That’s one of my strengths and my personal philosophy. I am aware that you will suffer every now and then when you play at a big club like Madrid. It’s part of the game.”
Benzema stated that he was content with his performances this past season and believed that he was meeting the expectations of coach Jose Mourinho and the Real Madrid Board. Benzema took advantage of an injury to Gonzalo Higuain and ended up scoring a respectable 26 goals in all competitions last season.
He said-
“My second season at Madrid didn’t start as I was hoping for, but the setbacks changed me for the better. I’m quite satisfied with my performances last term. I think that I’ve been living up to expectations.”
Benzema believes however, that the matter simply isn’t about scoring goals, but making a sustained impact at the club, and that is what he intends to do. He was optimistic of being injury-free next season and said that the goals would naturally follow suit once he started playing regularly.
“The most important thing is to make sure I’m in top condition in order to give my best. I never say how many goals I want to score. I just want to make a huge impact and be successful. I’m sure that I will score many goals.”
It remains to be seen whether Benzema gets his wish and plies his trade at Madrid next season, or if the Sanish club decide to offload him to generate funds for the Neymar and Aguero transfers.
