Ismael Bennacer ended a five-year stay with AC Milan on Deadline Day, moving to Marseille, and the reason for his departure has been revealed.
There were several cogs whirring on Deadline Day for Milan, but a new midfielder was not the anticipated plan. However, things very quickly changed as the day progressed, and it had everything to do with the Derby della Madonnina.
As Corriere della Sera (via Milan News) write, the Algerian midfielder had a ‘heated face-to-face’ with Sergio Conceicao at half-time in the derby, due to his decision to replace the midfielder with Alex Jimenez – a decision which the midfielder obviously did not agree with.
There have been reports about frustrations within the side leading to sales – of course, Alvaro Morata was the first case of this, though it was dispelled later. However, it may be a frustration.
Either way, the club were left annoyed by Bennacer’s decision to leave the club so late into the window, and this was worsened by the fact that he ‘fought’ for his move to France to go through.
Of course, Warren Bondo was eventually signed as a replacement, so the club have not been left short. Nevertheless, there is certainly a soured taste from the ongoings on Deadline Day.
Since when is it ok for players to keep questioning the coach’s decisions. What happened to showing your worth on the field week in and week out.
Let your feet talk – not your mouth. I fully support Conceicao’s methods and if its true that Pulisic is salty? Grow a pair bro!
Agreed. This starts to look more and more like a circus.
The only worrying bit is if characters like Puli and Bennacer are complaining (or so the media says). This is far from their typical attitude, so maybe, just maybe Conceicao is pushing things a bit too far.
The worst thing is this season we seem to be more entertained by what happens off the pitch, rather than on it…
I like the aggression of Conceicao on the pitch and no one will like it if it goes same outside the pitch too.
Harmony and having player’s die for one and other is very important as well as Coach who can push them but not away from limits.
Afterall it’s a job for everyone, when the respect was lost nothing is justified how good you are or you are not!
There’s zero evidence that Pulisic and Conceicao are at odds other than one tabloid article.
On the contrary, Conceicao has played Pulisic too much if anything. Hopefully Puli can get a rest and avoid injury now that Felix is at the club.
This. And also, did the players in Port want to leave one by one because of Sergio? Nope.
Milan players got used to being pampered by Padre Pioli. Imagine Benny under Conte or others. Just shows he has a weak character if he can’t take it. Coach is the boss. End of discussion.
I’m with Sergio here and really doubt there’s anything true behind the claims of Pulisic being unhappy.
Agree,at the end if you play good nobody will move you from game.Every player who not play good or fight against coach at public need be moved from 1st team.
Well, I question the decision. That sub is exactly when we started ceding possession to Inter. Our midfield two at that point became Reijnders and Musah, not exactly our most common or proven pairing. It’s clear Conceicao has his favorites, and Musah is one of them (as are Tomori and Pavlovic). Notice a trend among those three? They RUN RUN RUN. Running all over. It’s obvious Conceicao prefers athleticism over technicality (see the Walker transfer as well), although I’m not saying Walker isn’t also technical). So hopefully we can start scoring 2-3 goals per game, because we’re keeping few clean sheets with Conceicao.
There is so much talk about a player who wasn’t even playing the last couple of years.
Milan management, instead of being annoyed by Bennacer requests to leave that late in the market, they should be mad by not selling him earlier in the market and getting a better midfielder than Bondo.
I think Bondo is much better than ppl give him credit for. Also selling an injured player is very difficult. Z I know you’re smarter than this. No body pays real money for an injured player who’s still got six months of recovery time.
Not sure no team has reached out Monza if he is very good player and why Monza would sell when they need to perform at top to get out of relegation zone
First Fiorentina tried to buy. Second Galliani spoke to why he sold to Milan when he said no to others. Third Zeroli unlocked the deal. Monza have many problems that one player won’t fix. Why would they sell Maldini? I think they see the writing on the wall January deals are more profitable than relegation sales
“I think they see the writing on the wall January deals are more profitable than relegation sales”
Exactly.
Yep. And I’m also thinking that with the relegation the Berlusconi family will sell Monza and Uncle Fester will finally retire, and all will be out of football for good. End of an era.
I don’t really know what the believe. We’ve had reports mentioning that Bennacer asked to leave for years and now we have this article claiming that he somehow butted heads to much with the coach that he decided enough is enough ? Now it is not inconcievable that all those players (Bennacer, Morata and Calabria) were so annoyed by Conceição that they decided enough is enough, but we never know, it seems more realistic to think their departure was already planned a while ago.
Regadless, I do agree on something with the second comment, Bennacer should have been put on the market during summer, at which time we could probably have gotten a better figure from him and we should probably have kept Adli.
Agree with this. Without confirmed sources we’re just relying on the media to accurately report on what’s going on between Sergio and these players – and we all know how great they are at that… I love Bennacer (when fit) so it’s a shame to see him go, but we should’ve probably pulled the trigger earlier.
Milan considered selling him the same summer as Tonali but I think after the sale they renewed him right? Then he got hurt and came back then got hurt again. And now we are here. Not much to sell when a player is hurt. Can even pull that off on FM 😂
Can’t both be true? Bennacer was under contract, and it’s quite possible the the club said no if he had previously asked to leave. Then this season Fonseca says he’s going to rely on him, Fonseca then gets fire, and he doesn’t see eye to eye with the new coach and requests a transfer in January. It’s probable he would have gotten sold in the summer anyway, since there was little reason to extend an injury prone player and he would help generate funds (and a roster spot) for Ricci or whoever this vaunted DM upgrade is supposed to be. So it’s really not difficult to see how this all panned out.
I like Benacer but with this senseless and selfish decision, I have marked him out ! Olympic Masielle will end up selling him to Saudi league and make big money.
No, they won’t. He’s not high profile enough for the Saudi League. They sign stars.
I see many fans having too short memories. Isma was a top midfielder, and he still is, but he needed time to regain his form.
There was much talk about Kalulu being a flop in recent seasons. Look at him in Juve this season – an absolute beast.
It has turned into a football manager – buying and selling players after 6 months, 18 months. No continuity, no HERITAGE.
We have just 6 players which came before last 4 mercatos (including Florenzi who will be discarded in summer and Tomori whom management wanted to offload to TTH)
It’s desperation caused by numerous failures in 3 previous transfer windows.
What are you on ? LOl Isma hasnt been a top midfilder since the scudetto season. He is more in the hospital than on the field. And when he plays he is at best avrage.
Also Kalulu is injured AGAIN and without Bremer he is avrage at best. Stop glazin over mid players.
“Isma need time to regain his form” is repeated way too often in this 2-3 seasons. Is Isma a great player when he is match fit? Yes.
But when was the last time he was fit all season long? Probably back before scudetto season when we still played in Europa. After that he always struggled with fitness.
The cycle is always: he played great, got injured for months, need time to regain fitness, then injured again, repeat.
We gave him so many chances and I think now is the right time to move on.
He hasn’t been top for a few seasons now, he is still good but he has slowed down with all the injuries, Milan should have sold him instead of Tonali I always thought.
What we do know is that several mature players, Calabria, Morata, Benny who have never caused a problem in their careers have left.
This is alarming to say the least
With reports Pulisic and Theo having also had issues
While this article says we are not left short, this is not true. We cannot put Bondo on the CL list so we are even shorter in the department that needed reinforcement the most.
Benny was just finding form/fitness and would have been very complimentary to Fofana and Tiji.
Anyone who thinks playing Leao, Felix, Pulisic and Gimenez together against good teams are in for a freight when the midfield gets overrun
Exactly this. I mentioned the other day cheekily that if Puli is also having issues then maybe it’s something with coach and how he comes across. These guys are not trouble makers …Benny, Morata etc so to see them leave should be eye raising
I also don’t believe we truly upgraded anything except RB. We basically have different personnel…it doesn’t mean we’re better. Who knows how Giminez will perform esp given our poor service to Morata
Wait, our poor service to Morata or Morata’s poor service to us?
Now that you mention it 🤔… might be both.. certainly in the attacking sense. Poor dude had to play DM, get the ball in midfield and start his own attacking move….all because we have poor defensive mids. I don’t know if Giminez is the type to track back or able to create on his own though but I wish him good luck
Why are you guys talking like this? Did you read part of the article and ignored the other part? The article said Benny had a face-off with his coach when the coach mentioned switching him with Jimenez. You guys left the matter and started talking history, about how much of a top player Benny was; who doesn’t know that Benny was good? The issue at hand is that he didn’t want to be subbed. While the coach thought he wanted another kind of character in the middle.
You guys should keep sentiments aside for once.
Lol stop defending useless players. All of them have been completly useless this season. Weak caracther 0 leadership. Coach is there and you need to listen not the other way around.
You have the IQ of a Jellyfish…
Completely agreed with you SJF 🤝
It was high time the Coach got the power to clampdown on the unruly nature of the squad.
Honestly Bennacer is a good player, but having him in the middle is risky, it would have been better to have him as a leftsided box to box midfielder, with Musa in the middle and Rejinders on the right, to an extent the Coach was right , but he should simply have moved Musa to the middle, Jimenez could come in later, he is a shadow of himself, and lacks the muscle to deal with strong players.
He been angry is another thing , he is still out of shape, but Bondo honestly is an upgrade, he is younger, stronger and more aggressive, that is what we need.
If it’s true then i can understand and sympathize for Bennacer.
Imagine you’re in Bennacer shoes who just recovered from long injury and needs more playing time to reach your best form. But somehow you got bench one after another match while mediocre crap like Musah and Jimenez got more playing time. That treatment is a complete disrespect.
And it’s not just happening for Bennacer but also other players like Calabria, Theo, Leao, Tomori, and even Gabbia.
Add to the frustration where Milan management treated the players like another algorithm. Look at how Ibra pressured Calabria, Tomori, and Moratta to leave the club. It’s just disgusting!
But this is how the American yankees works. No wonder a lot of people hated Americans so much.
@ forza whatever you call yourself, is like you watch with ladies you know nothing about football.
Nah. It’s YOU who know nothing about football. STFU b*tch.
FORZAMILAN = === LOSER !!
The club waited for very long for you to recover twice and then you act like a child after 3-4 matches when the first time something goes against your will?
That’s unprofessional at least and very ungrateful and selfish after 2 years of full salary with 3 games played.
Leaving all this aside, the halftime is not the time where you clash with your coach even if treated unfairly especially not in the derby. Coaches don’t have the time to discuss every decision with the players and should not need to.
That so many players in our squad believe that they are entitled to comment on the trainer on his methods on the substitutes on who takes the penalties and much more, is the core of the problems we are facing at the moment. The least important things seem to be their displays and the results.
In my opinion it can only be good that the cosy times are over. It is normal that the players feel this change and everyone of them reacts in a different way, but in the end they get paid very well so at least we can expect them to after a period of adjustment they react professionally and get to work in this new circumstances.
Nah. The unprofessional one here is the club. Imagine when the player is getting back to his form but the management keep pressuring the player to leave.
And clashing with coach is normal. That’s everyday routine in football because coach can be wrong.
” Imagine when the player is getting back to his form but the management keep pressuring the player to leave.”
LOL!!!
Imagine the bs some people write here. The truth is that Milan believed in Benny for ages (too long actually) and didn’t sell him last summer. It wasn’t the first time clubs were asking for him. Milan didn’t sell and stick by his side. Even though that guy has spent half of his Milan career sidelined due to injuries. Benny wanted to leave. Milan didn’t want to let him but decided it’s for the best as Benny insisted.
How the F is that “pressuring the player to leave”??? Just stop with the bs already.
“But somehow you got bench one after another match while mediocre crap like Musah and Jimenez got more playing time. That treatment is a complete disrespect.”
LOL. The nonsense you type here gets worse each day.
Hahahahahahahahahaha. The guy eats from his anus I think.
Shipping Bennacer out was the best move this January window.
He was almost as useless as Origi and Ballo Toure.
💯 he is useless same like origi
Man, we tend to forget so quickly as fans. Just wish the man well and let him be. He came for pennies, was one of our best for a time, immensely contributed to the league win but got badly injured, worked his tail off to rehab then got injured again and still took it in stride. Most people would call time on their career at this point tbh, but Isma has shown incredible resilience. To call him as useless as Origi isn’t fair esp based on unverified media reports. Remember how quickly we collapsed vs Inter in the CL Semi-final when he went down? Yeah, thats how important he was then. Best of luck to the man. Forza Isma.🙏
Must be hard living as a r*tard
FORZAMILAN = LOSER !! (STUPID COMMENTS)
You really make yourself look not just stupid but also someone who has not followed Milan.
Bennacer was a huge part of our success under Pioli and a high class player who was sought by clubs like PSG, Arsenal etc
Sought out by PSG and Arsenal?
Arsenal had the right of refusal when Milan was buying him from Empoli because he came up thru their youth team and declined.
PSG never came for Bennacer
Only Arab teams and Marseille were interested in that deadwood.
Don’t care what he did 5 years ago. The last 3,4 years he was as useless as Origi and Ballo Toure. He contribute over the last 2 years exactly as those other 2 bums did, NOTHING.
Talking about stupid and not being able to follow, follow him to Marseille.
You said he was as useless as origi and ballo in your original post.
You are wrong, he was high class and Milan turned down several big offers for him.
Now you say he was useless for 3 or 4 years, the period he was instrumental in our league win and less than 2 years ago leading us to CL semis, including scoring v Napoli.
So you are just writing absolute rubbish which really renders your opinion void
I am a fan of Benny but was disappointed with him when he forced his exit out of Milan just because of being substituted at halftime. Frankly speaking substituting Benny for an inexperienced defender in a derby does not make sense to me. This partly contributed to the draw in the derby.
Whats with the players constantly going to argue with conceicao? Do they think that because he’s disciplined they want to flex their muscles? It all starts with respecting the coach’s decisions. That’s why they’re always the first to be blamed. Bennacer has been injured more than he has played for us and he has the balls to argue and force his way out. Good riddance.
I like all these additions because they want to play for this coach. The team will fall in line but we seriously need a run of positive results to change this mentality.
Yup three coaches (even Pioli although indirectly) complained about getting this team to follow plans and after three years of the same results there’s only one option.
Conte is even more demanding and disciplined than even Concecaio so what are these players talking about? A player like theo would have left long time if Conte was in charge. The senior players have been over pampered too much. It’s time for aggression and focus. Teams like Bologna play with intense passion and aggression, attributes lacked by Milan. This is why we are inconsistent. Sergio’s tactics and formation needs players with aggression, focus and concentration for 90 minutes. Not lazy players like Leao,Theo,etc. They should give us a break.
I think it was time for him to leave.
Too many injuries, a Salafi delusion, deteriorating level.
Bondo is waaaaaayyyy better tbh.
Lmao this kid talking big nonsense
So sad to see you’re all leaving, first morata, then Calabria (18 years dedication) and now Bennacer. This Milan now has no identity
No identity? And you name Morata who barely got here. Bennacer was having serious attitude issues.
This is Milan. Not focused around certain players.
Bennacer attitude issues?
The guy who rallied everyone around during supercopa even after he was subbed out.
Your another deluded Gerry Bot
One good deed doesn’t mean he’s an angel 24/7. I mean, even Hitler must have been nice to some people.
Benny started fighting the coach during the halftime of derby. How’s that NOT an attitude issue?????????
1 good deed? He has been at Milan for many years and has never caused a problem.
I think bringing Hitler in is a bit extreme. LOL
You Gerry cocksucking b*stards are disgusting
I don’t think it fair to characterize Calabria as being forced out. He wasn’t good enough, Milan had no intention of renewing him, which is the right call. Instead of going out like a leader he became petulant and unprofessional. A captain and real leader backs the club and the coach, fosters unity and works to keep everyone rowing in the same direction. This guy thought he was entitled to the arm ban by virtue of being there the longest (so glad that tradition is dying). Like the comment above the players should be talking with their feet
Bs. He accepted the transfer unlike Tomori. What petulence and unprofessional are you talking about? The argument after Parma match? It has nothing to do with armband. The amount disrespect some people showed towards him was totally absurd. Completely bs.
The argument is exactly what I’m talking, his issues with coaches decisions and his refusal to show grace is what I’m talking about. Like I said Milan were happy to let him play out his contract but he clearly felt that wasn’t good enough and acted out. Who plays that bad and then throws a tantrum when they are subbed?
I have no problem with players upset about being pulled. you think Conceicao the player would have been cool with getting pulled at 45 minutes after helping his team take a 1-0 lead at half in the Derby della Madonnina? But on the flip side I have no problem with the coach putting that player in his place. The truth is the Felix signing is the bigger issue for Benny. If everyone stays healthy, Benny’s playing time was going to go to zero.
Benny would play double pivot so not affected by Felix
But Felix forces Toni into the double pivot.
Couldn’t force him to stay. If he was refused, that alone could create toxicity. It also sends a message to others. Better shape up and show consistency and fast.
Marseille came for him last year; no one knows what was promised or what transpired. He remained with us. He got injured and was just returning to the field. The coach made a blunder and replaced him at halftime. Even the Italian press said his subs were wrong. The coach put the whole team under stress for the dying parts of the game with his subs.
Playing Emerson when he knew he was under transfer decisions was wrong; playing Fofana when he could have “trusted” the other players was risky too. Removing the two threats we had in Leao & Pulisic allowed Inter to flood our half with pressure.
Sergio should learn how to handle such incidents with candor. These media reports are sponsored, in my opinion. Why would management expect loyalty from players when they are not loyal themselves and care only about good deals? He acted in his own best interest as the club has acted too. There should be no hard feelings.
All these subs you are counting as bad subs is just because the expected result wasn’t achieved. As Man City have been have a terrible time, does it mean Pep is bad or making bad subs. That is sports for you, you win some, you loose some. Everyone plays to win, the slightest better performance earns either side the win.
The problem with you guys that come here to comment is that, you always think you know better than those who are saddled with the responsibility, yet most of you can’t even manage a family, let alone a wife at home.
Even Leak and Theo are not complaining but the one who has been on treatment table complained.
Milan was in danger of catering to the players’ attitudes and whims over the coach’s calls.
Yes, Fonseca wasn’t the right coach to begin with. But with Conceicao it was vital to send a message to the locker room that the management is backing this coach.
The message with the likes of Morata, Calabria, Bennacer is clear: fall in line or pack your bags. I’m sure more players will follow in the summer as well which is fine.
We’re not watching Milan to see pampered Millionaires fcuk about on the pitch. These are paid professionals and need to act as such.
Bottom line is you have to stand behind Conceicao. Being the players he wants, offload the deadwood.
@ACM1899 you’re on of the few with logic on here. I mentioned that during Calabria incident, Milan was heading towards a destructive path like Man United. Better taking care of it now instead of reaching United situation. Conceição may have temper but means we’ll. Players need to remain professional which they aren’t. Well said
For me the message to all of them was you are not good enough for Milan so goodbye. We all saw Theo and Leao doing shenanigans this season. Nobody thought to teach them a lesson.
NOT YET !!!!!!!
That creates massive instability at the club. Not saying players shouldn’t get in line but when players who are typically easy going and who don’t create fuss (Puli , Benny, Calabria) suddenly have issues then it’s quite bothersome to say the least. Plus the club doesn’t even trust the coach to give him a longer guaranteed contract of 6 months. These constant changes are not good for the club. It’s not good for morale.
Exactly. 100% agree.
I like Bennacer and I think he can get back to his best. But Bondo is a massive immediate upgrade and that’s what we want NOW. NOW. Not 1 month later.
This is a VERY worrying trend, and anyone with more than 5 braincells will see that. When half the squad at this point is having problems with the coach, who ill remind you is not getting results, especially guys like Puli who have never been the type to do so…if it was just the same situation with known troublemakers like leao and Theo, its be one thing. But the ever growing number of key players who are having problems with him is concerning. We can’t afford stuff like this when we’re already dropping points every week
You are spot on Ian. It should be concerning to all
Took the words right out of my mouth!
This. Fully agreed with you Ian.
Trash media claims Pulisic is unhappy. I believe he’s unhappy when he says he’s unhappy or he files his transfer request.
Well not sure about the comments here regarding the players and coach. Though it was reported that these players were unhappy earlier, i think it was also reported that there was a clear the air talks between the Conceicao, Ibra and the players after that ( think it was when Calabria was sold and it was confirmed that Conceicao did not ask for anyone to leave). So we might still be living on old news here.. couple of things:
1. Calabria was already having problems with Fonseca i think, we could see his reactions when being substituted.. so it’s not Conceicao specifically.
2. I think management had determined Morata was probably not suited to the Job anymore, giving he was missing chances and probably not suitable to the coach.
For the rest, I don’t know if there are still problems but I do know one thing.. and without prejudice, Algerian and Marsielle comes calling, there is usually only one outcome..🙂
Who knows what happened, it’s all a bunch of rumors. We also have to remember that when you’re winning, everyone is happy. The tension after the zagreb debacle clearly didn’t help. Regardless of how much of it is real, it will all fade away if we get the result. And this is not a gentleman’s club. Players don’t decide who stays or who go. The results do, and those who left were not cutting it.
If the story about Bennacer is true, way to payback a club who bankrolled a year and a half of injuries.
So it’s a bunch of rumours but you know the Bennacer story is true?? How?
I don’t know, I said IF mate. Literally. Still some stories are bound to be at least half true, and those leaking out of the club are more likely to be true. Unless we have a clear reason to lie.
Zlatan said Benny wanted to go. That’s more proof than trash media can offer.
Lets keep it real. Benny was one of our best performers in the 1st half of the derby & was crucially involved in the goal. Overall, we had a decent 1st half
Then SC decides to take benny off for jiminez & park the bus- that was disgusting. we were horrible 2nd half without benny. shinter could have scored many more & should have had a pen
i know benny asked to leave but you can hardly blame him, SC kept calling him an ‘interesting technical player’ then treated him like sh!t
if anyone should have been shipped out, its RLC, not benny
“Lets keep it real. Benny was one of our best performers in the 1st half of the derby & was crucially involved in the goal. Overall, we had a decent 1st half
Then SC decides to take benny off for jiminez & park the bus- that was disgusting. ”
Well… If the player didn’t obey the coach’s wishes, then he’s 100% right to sub him. Players are supposed to play how the coach tells them to.
“i know benny asked to leave but you can hardly blame him”
Yeah. Milan trusting him for 2 years during his injury issues and backing the player. Yeah. He was so right to insist on going elsewhere where he’s appreciated, eh? Hardly blame him? Fighting the coach during halftime in the derby? Yeah, such an angel who would have deserved a pay-rise instead.
They didn’t trust him; you can’t offload a player with such a serious injury
Marseille tried last summer but Milan said no.