A couple of days ago Real Madrid and Karim Benzema decided to extend their relationship at least for another year. That means that the current contract which was to expire on June 2022 will now expire on June 2023. This is a great news for the fans who were waiting for this to happen since long ago and also for the club. Benzema has been in Madrid since 2009 and has managed to become one of the most important players of Real Madrid’s history.
The club made the official announcement on the website as follows: Karim Benzema signed a new contract at Real Madrid City in the presence of club president Florentino Pérez. The deal will keep the striker at the club until 30 June 2023. After the signing, Benzema was presented with a shirt bearing his name and the number 2023 on the back.
The 33-year-old, who signed from Lyon at the age of 21, will now be at Real Madrid until he is at least 35. Since his arrival in 2009, Benzema has gone on to make 560 appearances in all competitions for Real and is the club’s fifth all-time leading goalscorer with 281. He has also won four Champions League titles and three La Liga titles during his time at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Benzema took a massive step forward right after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, not only from the goalscoring perspective but also by showing great leadership skills as he has been a reference point for Real Madrid. Youngsters like Rodrygo, Vinicius and more have been constantly learning from his style of play.
He scored a double in the season opener against Alaves in the first matchday and assisted the teammates two times in the second match where Real faced Levante. While it’s clear that he will have to get some rest more often (due to the age and due to the return at French national team) he still remains a crucial player and a very valuable asset for Madrid, so this extension makes a lot of sense.
This new contact is more than deserved after three extremely impressive seasons for Benzema, in which he's been Los Blancos' main attacking option following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Much of his success in recent seasons has been down to his hard work on the training ground, which has seen him remain in peak condition as he enters the latter stages of his career.
Benzema arrived at the club for 36 million euros alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, and in his 12 years at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu he has scored 281 goals. He is the club's fifth top all-time goal scorer, and with another two years left at the club he needs just 27 goals to surpass Santillana (290 goals) and Alfredo Di Stefano (308 goals) in the rankings. Benzema is now starting his 13th season at Real Madrid, having played 560 matches for the club in all competitions to this point.
Benzema has followed in the footsteps of five of his teammates in penning a new deal at Real Madrid, as Luka Modric (2022), Lucas Vazquez (2024), Nacho Fernandez (2023), Dani Carvajal (2025) and Thibaut Courtois (2026) have all agreed contract extensions in the last three months.
While some members of the so-called old guard have seen their contracts extended, the same cannot be said for the likes of Marcelo, Isco and Gareth Bale. If a departure if not found for any of the three or if no renewals will be made in the meantime, they will depart Real Madrid when their contracts expire next summer.
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