There is still hope that Ismael Bennacer could get a move away from AC Milan, thanks to a country where the market is still open.
According to Sabah Spor in Turkey (via MilanNews), there is interest from Trabzonspor in signing Bennacer, who is free to find a new club in a league where the summer mercato gong has not yet sounded.
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The Turkish club have already submitted an offer to Milan for a loan with an option to buy. The Algerian player is reportedly open to the move, and there is until September 12th to complete it, which is when their window shuts for signings.
On the fringes
Bennacer, like Yacine Adli, is a ‘victim’ of the more or less total midfield revolution and was not included in the official squad. There was talk of a return to Marseille, but they wanted a loan deal on more favourable terms than last year, and the Juventus speculation quickly died too.
Periodically, there has been interest in the Algerian from the Saudi League, but so far, nothing has materialised. His €4m net salary is a major obstacle for teams in Europe, but the option of a move to Turkey could be something he considers to avoid a season sat on the sidelines.
If I were him, I’d take this offer and go to Trabzonspor.
And we still have Origi, who was supposed to have terminated his contract by mutual consent in exchange for 50% of his remaining salary. So now Origi, Bennacer and Adli get to be on paid vacations for the next season. Living the dream!
This comment… maybe for Origi this is the dream. But we all know how much it hurts Adli to not be called up for the first team. He loves playing for Milan.
I think the takeaway from this is that if you want some players to leave the club, don’t put them in Futuro, try to at least to maintain them active so they can became a little bit more attractive to future suitors.
This!!! Like how do they expect to move them if other clubs don’t see them playing and that they’re fit. While they “banish” them to play in Serie D because they don’t no longer like the contract they agreed to with the player. Can’t have it both ways
He was active last season with Fiorentina. Not sure how a couple of pre-season matches would convince clubs that weren’t convinced as of June. Fitness? He’s keeping up his fitness with Futuro. Those kids also need to be fit. Sending him to Futuro sends the message “we don’t want you”. Including him in the first team might convince him that maybe he has a chance, and then he’ll reject offers. I get what you’re saying, but in this case given precisely because he’s often said he wants to stay and fight for his place, that this is the only way to get him to give up the ghost.
In Adli’s case to be precise. In Bennacer and Origi’s cases I think there is some form of acrimony that we’re underestimating. Remember that Bennacer seemed to push through the Marseille transfer at the last moment, and this probably did not sit well with management.
Origi is a complete enigma, but I’m guessing he’s been completely unreceptive to moving away for what is certainly going to be less money. We’re not privy to most of the offers that come in. It could be that there was interest for Origi the first summer or even the second summer of his contract, but when it’s a mid-table team, or MLS or whatever, and they’re offering 1M or 2M vs. the 4M he’s earning here, the response could very well have been “no thanks”. So then the club is saddled with his salary until the end. If the player doesn’t want to leave, what to do? He was not even an asset to Futuro in Serie C. In his specific case, I think it’s a case of a player who is enjoying a salary he should never have gotten and will never get again. He’ll leaving on a free in 2026 and sign somewhere for a fraction of what he’s making, if he doesn’t retire outright. First team inclusion would not have changed any of this, in his case.
Well to be honest, if a player is hell bent on staying till his contact expire, there is little to be done about it. And I’m not saying ALL of this is happening because of Futuro, afterall, the players themselves turned down quite few offers.
Adli was indeed active with La Viola and wasn’t all bad and Bennacer was also quite active with Marseille, but I guess them missing an entire preseason playing with serie D level teams didn’t sound particularly interesting to other teams especially, in Bennacer and Origi’s case, considering their huge wages.
I think teams would have gone for them if they could have gotten them on loan or cut their wages, but we seem to be against the former and the players themselves are quite picky about the offers.
Origi is a desperate case. I think the dude straight up gave up on football, since he was never a starter level in big clubs to begin with and decided that he might as well keep earning that huge salary and living a comfortable life in Italy while he can, rather than go elsewhere and earn a fraction of what he earned here.
Bennacer should probably go to Turkey while he can, since this is a WC year and he probably still want to start with the Algerian NT. I understood his decision to turn down the saudis, but Turkey can be pretty nice.
As for Adli, unless a team from a league when mercato is still open takes an interest in him, I don’t see him leaving anytime soon. And even if he is reintegrated in the first team, there is no way he will be picked ahead of Modrić, Ricci and Rabiot, all of whom are virtually better than him in everything.
Those doner kebabs won’t eat themselves, Benny.
If he wants to stay then we better register him. Plenty good enough player if we need him.