The most criminally underrated player of all time?
“EVERYTHING HE TOUCHES, TURNS TO GOALS!"
Like fine wine, Karim Benzema is getting better with age and is the name on everyone’s lips right now. The man is leading, and at times carrying his side through the knockout stages of the Champions League.
With this being his best season of his career, many people have him nailed on for the Ballon D’or already.
Obviously, Benzema’s reputation has been tarnished due to off the pitch shenanigans and he’s received a lot of criticism over the years. For the people that don't know, in 2014 a case was dropped involving Benzema and an underage prostitute. The case had been ongoing for four years. One year later, in 2015 , Benzema was found guilty of complicity in the attempted blackmail of a former teammate over a sex tape and was consequently exiled from the French national team. Despite the affect these two cases have had on his career, Benzema is finally showing the world just how talented he really is.
Thierry Henry recently called him the ‘complete player’. Hard to argue with that.
Henry may be one of the most complete players of all time, so the fact that he holds Benzema in the same category, says it all. He's learnt to come deep, hold the ball, lay it off to his teammates and then work hard to get into a position where he can create a goal scoring opportunity. It seems simple but you see many 'world class' players struggling to do that. Even the likes of Ronaldo would rather the ball played into his feet higher up the pitch.
Benzema fights and works hard for his team. I’m sure many people will remember how lazy he was when he first joined Real Madrid. Overtime, he has matured, developed and adapted his game to suit what Madrid needs.
The Ronaldo and Bale era for example.
Both Ronaldo and Bale love to cut inside from the wing and occupy that striker role so that they can get a shot off with their dominant foot.
This pushed Benzema out of the front line and made him play deeper, almost like a false 9.
Present day.
The wingers are Vinicius Jr on the left and the roulette of Rodrygo, Asensio and Valverde (Not a Winger) on the right.
Although these players are good; they’re not at the same level that Ronaldo and Bale were. Vinicius Jr, as electric as he is, can use his pace and skill more effectively getting to the byline and whipping the ball in. This obviously plays into Benzema’s hand and strengths.
Look at the stats since Ronaldo left Madrid. Without stating the obvious, Benzema’s production is ridiculous and he's hugely benefitted from Ronaldo's departure. When he’s able to play as a striker and not as a false 9/attacking midfielder he can produce what is expected of him, if not more.
In all competitions so far this season he has played 38 games, scored 38 goals and he's got 13 assists. Benzema is a world class talent. That’s a fact. It's taken a while for him to be show it, at 34 years old he is in the best form of his life.
Is he the most underrated player of all time? Probably not.
He’s definitely up there with the likes of Lewandowski, Sneijder, Haji etc. We’ll come back to this discussion when he inevitably gets nominated for the Ballon D’or but loses out to Messi and Ronaldo who have both had poor seasons in comparison.
As of now, he’s our pick for the most underrated striker, and we hope he gets the credit he deserves.
Comments