Benzema likely to stay at Real Madrid following his tweet of allegiance

Each transfer window for Arsenal has a player that is consistently linked to the club. That player for this transfer window has undoubtedly been Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema.

Despite little to no actual evidence a Benzema-to-Arsenal move could actually be accomplished without prior, market changing moves, the rumor has carried on throughout the summer with little chance of it dying until the beginning of September when Karim would still be instagramming his expensive cars at his mansion in Madrid while Arsenal fans rued another Mesut Özil made chance blown by [insert Arsenal forward here].

Then, this happened:

For all those clowns who want to make believe things at my fans. Here this is my home ! #HalaMadridYNadaMas pic.twitter.com/og6tMZKoft

— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) August 24, 2015

That seems like a fairly strong statement from Benzema that should douse the rumor entirely.

OR DOES IT?!?

Well, judging from previous experience, it will not (transfer rumors don't really care about "facts") and possibly even should not (Özil was definitely staying at Madrid, too, even later in the transfer window than this).

This tweet does not really change anything about the situation. Arsenal still could use a striker upgrade and Arsene Wenger would undoubtedly be willing to splurge on the talented Frenchman if he was available. However, as has been the case the entire time, Madrid really cannot afford to sell Benzema unless they bring in a striker upgrade (or if they were dumb enough to buy another striker and consider him an upgrade).  That has not and, due to Manchester City's complete unwillingness to sell Sergio Aguero, probably will not happen in this transfer window. Until that hypothetical domino dropped, there was no chance of Benzema-to-Arsenal ever happening.

There are conflicting reports as to whether Benzema actually wanted to leave due to Rafa Benitez's desire to make Gareth Bale a striker, but the tweet doesn't really give an answer to that either (Old Spanish journo pal, Kike Marin, says Benzema wants to come to Arsenal, but whatever). It does, however, completely discredit random, previously-unknown Italian journalists and Venezuelan TV presenters as credible, reliable Arsenal and Benzema transfer sources.

Be sad at this tweet if you want! Continue to be hopeful if you want! There's enough wiggle room in that tweet for both points of view. Regardless of how you feel, this is not going away for another week.