Benzema to Arsenal transfer blocked by Luis Suarez

Robin Bairner

• 19 Feb 2024 10:02 GMT
• 3 min read

Karim Benzema would have moved to Arsenal had Luis Suarez not bitten Giorgio Chiellini, the Uruguay legend reports.

Benzema was linked with a potential switch to he Emirates Stadium during the January transfer window, but he might have completed a move to the Premier League giants a decade ago had it not been for Suarez.

According to the 37-year-old, who recently joined Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, Arsenal had lined up a move for the forward in the summer of 2014 but events at the World Cup in Brazil that summer transformed everything.

Speaking to Del Sol, Suarez revealed that it should have been him – and not Benzema – who signed for Real Madrid.

“Before the 2014 World Cup, Real Madrid wanted to sign me, and everything was on track,” he explained. “They were planning to sell Benzema to Arsenal; it was all done.

“When the World Cup started, Barca joined the race, and obviously I preferred Barca.

“With the bite situation, Madrid lowered their interest, and Barca became more interested… In the end I had both options and I chose Barca because it was my dream.”

All’s well that ends well

The situation worked out perfectly for the two Spanish clubs, while Arsenal were left in the doldrums for several more years before Mikel Arteta picked them back up to be serious title contenders in the Premier League.

Although Suarez went on to become a legend at Camp Nou, where he starred alongside Messi and Neymar in the famous ‘MSN’ front three, Benzema experienced a remarkable career at Real Madrid, where he scored 345 goals and claimed the 2022 Ballon d’Or before departing for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League in the summer.

Benzema, though, has reportedly been unsettled in Saudi Arabia and had been closely associated with a string of Premier League clubs during January, with Arsenal among those teams thought to be closest to signing the veteran attacker.