Ismael Bennacer has become one of the key components of AC Milan’s project under Stefano Pioli, but his rise to prominence has not been a straight line.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Bennacer has been linked with Lazio, Sampdoria and Manchester City in the past, but he chose to join Milan from Empoli where he has since become on of the crucial elements of Pioli’s team.
Born to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother, Bennacer has a French passport having been born and raised in the small town in the south of the country, in the Barriol district where he even played football with stones.
Despite the offer to become a professional when he was little more than a teenager with Sampdoria and Lazio knocking on the door, he chose to join Arsenal in 2015, although Manchester City did everything to tear him away from their rivals.
It was with the Gunners that Bennacer met Olivier Giroud, who became a friend, but he found opportunities tough to come by and thus decided to move to Tours in Ligue 2 on loan, before making the leap to Italy joining Empoli.
It was a choice that was not an easy one because Bennacer’s father feared that he would find it difficult in Italy but instead he established himself as one of the top talents in Serie B, attracting Milan’s attention.
Meanwhile, the player had already made his choice for the national team: not France, with whom he played 11 matches between the U18s and U19s, and not even Morocco. He chose Algeria who immediately offered him a place with the senior team.
The next move was the one to Milan, and the rest – as they say – is history.
