Karim Benzema - BIG Ballon d'Or 2022 campaign

"Laughable", again  

I would rank Rudd Van Nistelrooy ahead of Suarez.

There is so much talk about how Benz stacks up against the best strikers of all time! He has been great no doubt, but in praising him, that is putting down a lot of legends. What Benz achieved in past 4 or 5 years is astounding. What I will agree with is that Benz is the greatest 30+ striker ever, especially considering that most players start their decline and retirement at age 30.

Ibrahimovic is the best striker since R9 period. To me, Messi, Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic were the phenoms of the generation that just retired in terms of strikers.

futbol_bill wrote:I would rank Rudd Van Nistelrooy ahead of Suarez.

there is absolutely no metric that supports this

El Gunner wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:I would rank Rudd Van Nistelrooy ahead of Suarez.

there is absolutely no metric that supports this

Honestly one of bill's worst posts in the history of GL

Problem I have with Ibra is his relative lack of pace n as he showed at Barca, he stalls the play due to him wanting to control the ball at feet. Dunno if anything similar but I think Sport or Cas mentioned the same issue with Neymar at PSG? Hes also not a nimbo goal poacher type. As a result he doesnt fit every team n isnt perfect of course, he has his many insane attributes, but this one or two weakness definitely hes just below the absolutely best tier for me...

agree BL

Ibra wasn't playing in his best position at Barca... as a 9.  Pep wanted him to vacate the space and allow Messi to get into scoring positions.  That was the beef.  And that's on Pep for wanting to use him in a ridiculous way.  That's like putting Haaland wide and outside the box.

Ibra is undoubtedly the best striker since R9.   It's not even close.  I remember about 7-10 years ago arguing with Zealous about Benz and Higuain...we bother agreed that we'd sell both in a HEARTBEAT to sign Ibra.  It wasn't even a question.

then why didn't Flo pull the trigger on Ibra if he was so GOATed

Because he wouldn't co-exist with Ronaldo.

He also had a lot of beef with Dutch players during his time at Ajax. Before CR, we had Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaart (they hate each other lol), etc. I think Ibra had issues with literally all of them.

Juve, Milan and Inter were not worse destinations than Madrid or Barca at the time... well maybe Juve because of the scandals; but not the other two. Arguably better actually.

Benzema is apparently looking to return to Europe.

Really hoping to see him in the Serie A and him being more of a #10 than a #9 I have come to accept, will suit him.

Huge huge fan of him since his late career resurgence and I am genuinely glad to see him aim to come to Europe.

Wouldn't mind him to return to Real Madrid tbh. Joselu could use some pointers. There's still things he has to teach to the youth on the team.

You should like him arq even before his resurgence. He is Carlo's wet dream. I dont remember how he called it, but it was something like a "italian style CF/SS" that carlo felt every team should have. And Benzema being such an all-rounder and selfless is the closest thing to that. Thinking about it now i dont think theres a prominent italian that fits the mold for quite some time. Has there been anyone since.... Totti?

Really doubtful Joselu remains next season. i believe Flo signs someone for CF (Osimhen lates rumour) plus Endick leaves him as third option plus Espanyol is in range of returning to la liga for next season and if so, they will definitely want him back and wouldn’t extend loan.

I assume there's an option to buy in his loan contract, but even if not, his Espanyol contract will only have a year left presumably with a low enough buy out should we really want to do so. I have no preference either way, but he seems good enough as a 3rd choice given he'll be 34 this year and would seemingly be ok with the role. If we get Osimhen, there'll be a period where he's unavailable due to AFCON, which would likely give the 2nd and 3rd choice strikers some playing time.

The loan deal was only because Espanyol got relegated. He is ok as bench strength and IMO will be retained, if numbers permit, but that is only if Espanyol makes the promotion. But next season will be all about Endick’s development. If they do purchase Osimhen or someone else, it will only be temporary. either Endick develops well or they go for Haaland in a couple of years.

Also consider that all of a sudden, the front line is becoming overcrowded. You have Vinicius, Rodrygo, Brahim, whoever comes as CF, Endick, Maybe Joselu, all contributors and we don’t really know how Güler makes out and whether he works out as a forward or a midfielder. Hard to keep that number and give contributors (at this point assuming all) sufficient playing time.

Also same situation in Midfield. Assuming Modric leaves and Kroos remains for another year, you have Bellington, Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Kroos, all potential starters plus Ceballos and possibly Güler and possibly Nico Paz. This season has worked well with Bellingham up high with 2 forwards, allowing Carlo to play 4 midfielders, but a CF will likely change that. Assuming all are contributors, as seems the case today, then Carlo has same issue with midfielders as with forwards. How can he give all sufficient playing time.

And with defense, Davies likely coming end to replace Mendy, they may possibly want to stock up a bit considering expected departures in next few years (Lucas this summer, Nacho summer 2025, Carvajal summer 2026 and both Alaba, Rudiger likely anytime between 2026 to at outside 2028. Davies likely coming in to replace Mendy. If they do, they have to give new recruits some playing time to assess whether or not they might fit in after retirements.

All this means, even though the overall lineup looks promising, there will eventually be a numbers problem and man management challenges for Carlo.

Arsenal is all over Benzema.

Turok_TTZ wrote:Wouldn't mind him to return to Real Madrid tbh. Joselu could use some pointers. There's still things he has to teach to the youth on the team.

You should like him arq even before his resurgence. He is Carlo's wet dream. I dont remember how he called it, but it was something like a "italian style CF/SS" that carlo felt every team should have. And Benzema being such an all-rounder and selfless is the closest thing to that. Thinking about it now i dont think theres a prominent italian that fits the mold for quite some time. Has there been anyone since.... Totti?

I always mildly was a fan of him but as we know we couldn't see the true extent of his footballing powers till CR7 left. For a CF to make a resurgence this late in his career I am fully in the belief in terms of raw footballing ability he is miles ahead of CR.

And yes there have been just not to the same success of Totti.

sportsczy wrote:Arsenal is all over Benzema.

Hes old now for a footballer but this needs to happen. Huge marketing move and still would be Arsenal's best player and by a mile.

Arq wrote:For a CF to make a resurgence this late in his career I am fully in the belief in terms of raw footballing ability he is miles ahead of CR.

as of this moment currently? or all time?

Arquitecto wrote:Really hoping to see him in the Serie A and him being more of a #10 than a #9 I have come to accept, will suit him.

Huge huge fan of him since his late career resurgence and I am genuinely glad to see him aim to come to Europe.

It is funny you say that cause if he had longer hair, played for Roma and wore number 10 I would have no problem believing I was watching Totti.

Sports ffs

Can we let Mbappe go for a second pls report on Benzema to Arsenal

Benz went to Saudi for money and to retire basically. No way he goes to the most demanding league in the world lol

Clutch wrote:Benz went to Saudi for money and to retire basically. No way he goes to the most demanding league in the world lol

U w0t m8? Benzema would walk rings around the Don Key league. Wouldnt even need to jog.

Still waiting on Sport's sources on Benz whilst he is reporting why Mbappe not liking Manchego will prevent him from going to Real Madrid