Benzema, Arsenal and how footballers are the new WUMs of the internet

Footballers are subject to ridiculous levels of scrutiny. Every little thing they say or do is dissected to the Nth degree. So why not have a little fun?

On Tuesday, Karim Benzema set the internet on fire with two simple actions. Firstly, he posted this image on his personal Instagram account...

Laissons le passé au passé.. #rip #directionturfu

A photo posted by Karim Benzema (@karimbenzema) on Jul 28, 2015 at 4:52am PDT

A smiling Karim is pictured on a private jet. The message reads: 'Laissons le passé au passé.. #rip #directionturfu', or 'Leave the past in the past #rip #directionfuture'. It's wonderfully cryptic. The rest of the Real Madrid squad flew out on a separate aircraft yesterday, and the message suggests a sentiment of finality, and of fresh motivation. Secondly, the French international followed only his 39th account - by the name of 'wengerland'... Understandably, it sent Arsenal fans into a wild tizzy. Could it be? Is Benzema intimating an end to his six-year stay at Real Madrid, for a fresh challenge at the Emirates? Whether North London is in fact his destination, one thing is pretty certain: he knows exactly what he's doing. The fans crave titillation and he is obliging. It's only a few days after Memphis Depay, football's WUM king, uploaded an image of himself with Romelu Lukaku...

Me and @romelulukakubolingoli10 in an conversation. See you soon B A photo posted by Memphis (@memphisdepay) on

Could this be United's 'mystery striker'? The one that Louis van Gaal explained didn't really exist? But of course, it was just an innocent snap. And Memphis has previous. A few weeks ago, he posted a collection of images of himself on holiday with, amongst others, Lukaku and Paul Pogba. Again, the description was tantilising and vague... This was after he'd signed for Manchester United. Before then he'd caused another virtual whirl of excitement, which had Liverpool fans convinced he was Merseyside-bound. The reason? He liked a reply on his Facebook from someone saying 'Welcome to Anfield'... One player who did end up at Liverpool was Christian Benteke. He was rumoured to be on his way to Anfield for some time but, for a brief moment at least, online speculation had him moving elsewhere. It was all because the big Belgian favourited a tweet suggesting he'd be good back-up for Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford. Why would Christian do that? What could he possibly mean? Now all this could be mere coincidence. It could read like the innocent internet activities of idle footballers being blown out of all proportion. Step away from the tin hat. Or it could be the other way round. Footballers, having cottoned on to their power to light fires, are actively encouraging ITK culture. Things get blown out of proportion for sure, but is that the aim rather than merely a consequence? We often think of social media as being a window into the lives of our footballing heroes. But we don't always realise it's not just a one-way mirror - they can look out and see how people react to their every move. Footballers are young men with plenty of time on their hands, with the same instincts for mischief and p*sstakery as you and I. Perhaps some of them have decided to turn the tables and have their own fun.