Former Real Madrid star Karim Benzema is eyeing a move to Major League Soccer, sources close to the player have told The Post.
The 37-year-old Ballon d’Or winner is currently playing for the megabucks Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Ittihad, where he earns just over $110 million a year tax-free after leaving Spain in 2023.
Allies of the former French international said Benzema is plotting a move stateside ahead of next year’s World Cup and has hired top New York immigration lawyer Michael Wildes to secure a US visa.
Wildes, who represented First Lady Melania Trump and her family, called Benzema “one of the greatest strikers of all time.”
He declined to comment on which visa Benzema was applying for, citing client confidentiality, but the star’s former Les Bleus teammate Olivier Giroud landed a P-1 work permit before joining MLS outfit LAFC.
The move would be a blow to title-chasing Al-Ittihad, where the superstar player has contributed 19 goals and nine assists in 27 starts for the Jeddah-based club.
The Post has approached an MLS spokesperson for comment. The Saudi-based star’s French attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Big-earning Benzema will fill up a Designated Player spot at whichever club he joins. The regulation, also dubbed the Beckham rule, allows an MLS franchise to sign up to three players outside a club’s salary cap.
The striker joined Real Madrid from French side Lyon in 2009 and won five Champions Leagues and four La Liga titles with Los Blancos.
Benzema made 648 appearances for the Spanish giants and scored 354 goals in his 14-year spell with the club.
It places him second in their all-time goalscoring list behind Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Saudi rivals Al-Nassr from Manchester United.
The free-scoring forward is also the joint first most-decorated Real Madrid player of all time, alongside Brazil’s Marcelo winning 25 major honors.
Among his other titles were five Club World Cups and three Copa del Rey triumphs.
He fulfilled a lifelong dream of being awarded the Ballon d’Or at the age of 34, becoming the oldest winner of the most prestigious accolade in the game since England’s Stanley Matthews in 1956.
It has been presented annually by French magazine France Football with top journalists from across the world voting to choose their player of the year.
Benzema scored 37 times in 97 appearances for France but missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after picking up a thigh injury in training the day before it started.
He retired from international duty aged 35, just one day after Les Bleus lost against Argentina on penalties in the World Cup final.
The Lyon-born striker made his international debut in 2007, playing at the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 and at the 2014 World Cup.
The frontman ended up being omitted from the next two major tournament squads over a blackmail and sex-tape scandal before being recalled by national coach Didier Deschamps for Euro 2020.
Benzema was eventually handed a one-year suspended jail sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros ($80,000) by a French court in 2021, convicting him of involvement in an attempt to blackmail France teammate Mathieu Valbuena in 2015.
He was also ordered to pay ex-Marseille winger Valbuena 80,000 euros ($90,000) in damages.
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