Ismael Bennacer will remain at Milan at least until January after a summer move did not materialise, and now Paulo Fonseca must find a way to get the best out of him.
As MilanNews report, there were a few weeks where Bennacer’s departure seemed increasingly likely to make room for a new signing in the midfield, with Manu Koné (now at Roma) and Adrien Rabiot the most heavily linked.
However, the Algerian midfielder ended up remaining with the Rossoneri and has also been included in the UEFA squad list for the first part of the Champions League too, all after an ending to the window that had everyone on edge.
In addition to the strong interest of a Saudi club that lasted practically the entire summer, Atletico Madrid and Marseille enquired about a loan on deadline day, but in the end an agreement was not reached as Milan wanted to sell him permanently.
The report also confirms that the player did not train for a few days at Milanello and it was not because of injury but rather because of the interest from other clubs. He did not even participate in the trip to face Lazio, officially due to gastroenteritis but he had trained the day before.
Milan’s management of this matter has certainly not been the best. The club were probably certain of selling him and instead now they still have him in the squad, and so now the mission to recover Bennacer begins, especially from a psychological point of view.
The former Empoli man – who is currently with his national team – certainly cannot be happy about being put on the market by the club and therefore a lot of work will be needed both by Paulo Fonseca and by the Milan directors, in particular Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to recover his mentality.
The added complication is that Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders (plus possibly Yunus Musah) are ahead of him in the pecking order so minutes might be tough to come by, which will further damage his morale.
Nonetheless, there are many games to play in a crowded schedule and therefore it is in everyone’s interest to get the best version of Bennacer, all while waiting for January when the window will reopen and clubs like Marseille could come forward again.