Benzema, Kanté, Pereira: Al-Ittihad bets on keeping its foreign spine with fresh deals

Contract renewals for star foreigners

Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao, who leads Al-Ittihad, has agreed to keep three foreign players in the squad for the foreseeable future.

According to the Saudi daily Today, Conceicao told the club's management that the contracts of three foreign players from the current squad must be renewed, and that none of them should depart the team as they are among the core pillars.

The source says Conceicao is insisting on renewing the contracts of Karim Benzema, his French compatriot N'Golo Kanté, and Portuguese Danilo Pereira.

Al-Ittihad's foreign roster this season includes Predrag Rajkovic, Danilo Pereira, Mario Mitai, Fabinho Tavares, Mohamed Doumbia, Roger Fernandes, Moussa Diaby, Houssam Awar, Steven Bergwijn, Yan Carlo Simic, Karim Benzema, and N'Golo Kanté.

The club is gearing up to face Nasaf of Uzbekistan in the AFC Champions League Elite on December 23.

Conceicao's men will play another friendly in Jeddah in the coming days after the Saudi league's round 10 was postponed due to the Green Falcons reaching the Arab Cup semifinals.

Punchline 1: If renewals were goals, Conceicao would be on a hat-trick.

Punchline 2: Keep Benzema, Kanté and Pereira, and hand us a lifetime subscription to drama-free football.