Saudi champions Al-Ittihad have sold over 56,000 tickets for Karim Benzema’s presentation at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in just a few hours after sales were announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
According to reports, the French striker and Ballon d’Or winner on Tuesday agreed to a three-year, $165 million deal with the Saudi Pro League team.<\/p>\n
Tickets for the presentation of the former Real Madrid captain on Thursday began at just nine riyals ($2.40) at the 62,000-seat venue known locally as “The Shining Jewel.”<\/p>\n
Benzema was welcomed by a sizable group of fans sporting the club’s yellow and black colors upon his arrival in the city on Wednesday night. He is anticipated to hold a press conference on Thursday before being introduced to the media.<\/p>\n
Benzema, 35, was Al-Ittihad\u2019s first signing since winning the league title for the first time since 2009 with compatriot N\u2019Golo Kante expected to join him from Chelsea soon.<\/p>\n
Cristiano Ronaldo blazed the trail in the Saudi Pro League by signing a lucrative contract with Al-Nassr in December.<\/p>\n
Saudi clubs are targeting other big names in the coming months with the likes of Sergio Busquets, Angel Di Maria, Jordi Alba and Sergio Ramos being linked with moves to the desert kingdom in local media.<\/p>\n
A source close to Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, last month told Reuters that he had received a formal offer to join Al-Hilal but the 35-year-old World Cup winner decided to join Inter Miami in the United States instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi champions Al-Ittihad have sold over 56,000 tickets for Karim Benzema’s presentation at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in just a few hours after sales were announced on Wednesday. According to reports, the French striker and Ballon d’Or winner on Tuesday agreed to a three-year, $165 million deal with the Saudi Pro League team. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":272992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"211693","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"0","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[65771,20177,65769,65770],"class_list":["post-272990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-al-ittihad-presentation","tag-benzema","tag-benzema-fever","tag-jeddah"],"yoast_head":"\n