Ismael Bennacer has no regrets about leaving Arsenal for just £900,000 but, according to Calciomeracto, there are many at the Emirates now ruing their failure to keep hold of the AC Milan star.
While Mikel Arteta’s misfiring Gunners sit 14th in the Premier League table, enduring their worst start to a season in 39 years, three Emirates ex-pats are thriving away from north London.
Serge Gnabry was a treble winner with Bayern Munich last season. And, over in Spain, Yunus Musah is breaking La Liga records by the week at Valencia, establishing himself as one of the first names on the Los Che team-sheet at the age of just 17.
While Bennacer may be basking in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s lengthy shadow in Milan, Serie A fanboys will tell you that the Algerian enforcer is just as important as an evergreen 39-year-old to the Rossoneri’s Scudetto hopes.
The former Empoli ace is perhaps the most influential defensive midfielder in Italian football right now, starting almost every week for a Milan team who have won seven of their nine fixtures to spark dreams of a first Serie A title in a decade.
Arsenal sold Bennacer for just £900,000 after one first-team appearance in London – a 3-0 EFL Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday – but he is now valued at closer to £45 million amid reported interest from Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
No wonder his stunning form in Italy is being greeted with regret back in London.
After all, Arsenal spent years searching for a belligerent ball-winner before splashing out £51 million to sign Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid in October. But maybe, if the Gunners had shown more faith in their former youth teamer, they wouldn’t have had to.
Calciomercato claims that there are many in north London who cannot believe more was not done to keep Bennacer in England. And who can blame them?
Oh, and just to make matters worse, Arsenal decided against taking up the opportunity to trigger the buy-back clause in Bennacer’s contract before he moved to Milan in 2019.
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