There are reports Manchester City, Arsenal and especially Liverpool are tracking Milan midfielder Ismael Bennacer, who has a €50m release clause in his contract.
The Algeria international attracted interest from the Premier League sides after helping the Rossoneri to their first Serie A title in over a decade.
According to BeIN Sports, Liverpool in particular have made a strong approach to sign Bennacer this summer.
Stefano Pioli is not eager to let him leave, especially after already losing Franck Kessie as a free agent and missing out on LOSC midfielder Renato Sanches to PSG.
Still only 24, Bennacer already has 39 senior caps for Algeria and 120 Serie A appearances under his belt.
Milan paid €17.2m to sign him from Empoli in the summer of 2019 and before that he spent time in the Arsenal youth academy.
His contract with the Diavolo runs to June 2024 and there are reports Milan would like to extend it with a deal that would raise his salary and double the release clause to €100m.
And I want to marry the granddaughter of the queen. We’re short on midfielders as it is. Never gonna happen in this window, or the next.
Next summer, if he still wouldn’t renew …
Beatrice, Eugenie or Zara?
I’m not picky.
After some research, think I’d go for the queen herself TBH.
Long live Milan ! lol
If this is true, it may be some insight on why they keep pursuing multiple mid’s .
Whelps, can’t really do anything if these EPL teams paid the clause.. but I don’t appreciate the timing.. we’re close to the start of the season and this is possibly disruptive.
As Bunga2 says, we may not have a choice if the clause is activated. Even if an offer comes in below clause, say at ~40m, I think the club would need to have a hard thing. If I remember correctly, Bennacer was asking for ~6m per season earlier this year, and with this interest the number might go up. If we don’t renew this summer, his value will plummet in 2023, and then at that point he may even decide to see out his contract in 2024 to get a free move wherever, and still be 26 years old. I think with 40m, or 50m from the release clause we’ll be able to find an adequate replacement for around ~30m, and then have ~20m left over to add the ~15m remaining from the original budget to close up CB and another CM. That said, I’d prefer to extend and keep him.
Not sure if this has any substance behind it TBH. Last time I read about this two weeks ago it was Man U after him at all costs.
Also if they are willing to pay 50 Mil for a mid fielder why didn’t they scoop up Sanchez at half the price ?
Oh there’s no substance to it, don’t worry, it’s BeIN sports. He could of course play for any of the teams mentioned but Milan wouldn’t let him go now, even if serious approaches are being made, which they are not. That would be season suicide.
Bennaces is nothing extraordinary, for 50m he can go
Benacer is Arsenal’s Gilberto Silva type: you realize his true contribution when he’s not on the pitch. I say Milan extend his contract but if the Premier League clubs want him for +€40,m Milan should happily sell him 🤔
We just signed Hugo Cuenca who can be easily his clone in a couple of years. With 40mln from his sale you can secure Onana and Sarr’s services! Benna is sly as a fox!