This summer, AC Milan will see the squad get somewhat of an overhaul and the departure of Ismael Bennacer will be part of that.
Over recent seasons, Bennacer has already effectively left Milan. He stated his desire to move on at the end of the January 2025 mercato and then left for Dinamo Zagreb last season. Before that, though, injuries had kept him out of the squad.
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In other words – and with as much respect as possible – he has not really been part of the team for much before now.
It’s sad in many ways, due to the importance which he had under Stefano Pioli. However, repeated injuries altered him and he was never able to refind the form (or playing time) to return to that level.
Qatar waiting for Bennacer
So, for the past few months (and beyond), a permanent exit has seemed like a case of when, not if, and Fabrizio Romano reported on X that it will come this summer.
“Ismael Bennacer, set to leave AC Milan on mutual contract termination and sign at Al Shamal Sports Club. The Qatari side is working on final details to get the deal done this week.”
1) Fofana, Modric, Rabiot
2) Ruben, Ricci, Ardon
3) Musah, Bennacer, Bondo
As expected, we won’t get any penny from Isma’s exit. To cross off his high wage here is maybe enough already.
Ibrahim ba
17 April 2026, 4:46 at 4:46 am
For Isma, well I don’t think he’ll ever put Milan shirt again as the bridge had burnt down with his Marseille move. The best case is to offload him with zero to minimum transfer fee just to write off his high salary.
Good news no more slow glass turtle I’m happy gerdinale is making us happy nowadays
This guys story is sad… unfortunately, when he was signing for Milan, he had high hopes…
A bit sad to see a story that started so well ending up like this.
But considering the circonstances, we couldn’t have hoped for better.
Some are lucky, some are not.
I wish him all the best to regain his old strengths.
Classic example of not selling when the time was right. Imagine getting 40M€ for him from the Saudis a few years ago when there was interest.
But it’s a football club and not some investment bank.
So I see you prefer players who have cost the club money to leave for free. You’d be a fabulous manager (or an accountant) to any club. Bankrupt in months. 🫣
No one in the Cuva Sud seems to care about money. They care about winning. Winning takes care of the $$.
The stories of Bennacer and Theo are clear examples of why selling at peek value might not be such a bad thing…
To maintain such a high level of play over a decade requires skill, passion and luck. It’s rare all three of those things stay aligned throughout a long career.
Did you hear all the screaming moaning and groaning when Milan sold Tonali and Reijnders etc. This forum had a virtual meltdown. Gerry was called all kinds of nasty names!
Selling and buying is shrewd business and timing matters. And circumstances matter. for e.g when you have Pedri, Gavi and De Jong etc you can sacrifice Casado for a ton of cash without destabilizing the team. We don’t have that luxury so sales matter much much more. I’m predicting Leao’s sale will be a disaster for Milan, just like Tonali and Reijnders.