Everytime that Juninho Pernambucano He speaks as the sports director of Olympique de Lyon, he does it directly. The former Brazilian player gave an interview to RMC Sport in which he opened the possibility that Karim Benzema will return to French football in a few years and retire in the team that saw him born as a footballer.
“The dream we have is that Karim Benzema will retire with us. It is the dream of all Olympique de Lyon fans to make him come back for two seasons, to play the Champions League with us, to be a leader, to score goals and to bring us his experience and help us win games “Juninho stated in the prestigious French chain.
On April 17, the Real Madrid forward confessed that he would like to return to Lyon “but not now.” Benzema has a contract with the white club until 2022 and is in one of the best moments of his career. Since Cristiano's departure to Juventus, the Frenchman has pulled the team and has become the great reference in attack, a pillar in the League conquered last season.
Juninho also had words for Samuel Umtiti, who has recently been linked to Lyon as a bargaining chip in the Depay operation: “Samuel Umtiti's salary at the contract level is impossible for us. If he is a player who wants to go home and says so, we will bring him back immediately ”.