For weeks over the summer, the idea refused to die. Karim Benzema, now 38 and a former Ballon d’Or winner, was supposedly closing in on a storybook return to the club where it all began. The player was interested, the Lyon board was interested, the pieces were sliding into place.

They weren’t. Speaking to France TV, Lyon sporting director Matthieu Louis-Jean confirmed that nothing of the sort was ever on the table.

“Benzema, was it close? No, it was not close to happening,” Louis-Jean said.

“Of course, like you, I heard what was said on social networks. I know there was an issue getting out of his contract in Saudi Arabia, but no, it was more noise than reality. I don’t think it was feasible in any case.”

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The Saudi contract that blocked it

Louis-Jean’s reference to a contract issue lines up with the version told by Benzema’s long-time former agent, Karim Djaziri, in the French press.

Djaziri confirmed that the forward had genuinely weighed up a return, but that his Saudi deal left no realistic opening when Lyon’s interest was at its peak over the summer.

“He thought about returning to Lyon for a long time. It’s his city, his team, his club,” Djaziri told Maxifoot.

Benzema’s Saudi chapter has since ended anyway. His club and the Frenchman agreed to terminate his contract, leaving him a free agent. By the time his Saudi commitments were untied, the window in which Lyon had been looking at him had already closed.

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Why the rumour had legs

Benzema in a Lyon shirt is a story the French public has wanted since the moment he left for Real Madrid in 2009. He came through the academy at Lyon, scored his first senior goals in the city, and has never hidden his attachment to the club. Any flicker of interest from either side was always going to catch fire online, and this summer it did.

Louis-Jean’s France TV comments are the first formal word from inside the club that the heat on social networks was never matched by progress at the negotiating table.

Lyon turn their attention elsewhere

Lyon will approach the January transfer window with other names on the list, not a 38-year-old free agent coming home.

Benzema remains without a club, and his next move is still unresolved.

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