Ismaël Bennacer has won the African Cup of Nations – and was even named the tournament’s Best Player – as he is set to join Milan next week.
Milan presented Theo Hernández and Rade Krunić on Friday, and next week they will complete the signing of another player – Ismaël Bennacer of Empoli.
According to Antonio Vitiello of Milannews.it, Bennacer will be in Milano at the start of next week to have his medical and sign the five-year contract with the Rossoneri. The Diavolo are expected to pay €15-16m plus bonuses for the services of the 21-year-old.
Until that happens, Bennacer will celebrate his new trophy: on Friday evening he – together with the Algeria national team – won the 2019 African Cup of Nations. Algeria met Senegal in the final of the tournament and they beat them 1-0 thanks to a goal from Baghdad Bounedjah in the 2′ minute.
It was a brilliant tournament for Bennacer, who’s been selected as the ‘Total Man Of The Competition’, which is the Player of the Tournament Award of the AFCON. Milan now have two new champions, as in addition to Ismaël, there is also Lucas Paquetá who won the 2019 Copa America with Brazil earlier this summer. Paquetá, however, was hardly involved while Bennacer was a key player for Algeria.
Bennacer has shown throughout the tournament that he’s a versatile player who can play both as a regista and as a more attacking midfielder. He will likely dictate the play at Giampaolo’s Milan.
it feels good having him
TO be sincere, This guy Might Come out very cheap and good buy.. I solemnly focused on him today and I must confess he puts everything to his game… I watch kessie too during the AFCN but This Guy Is Good I dont Wanna Hype Him Too Much, But I Pray He comes Out Good…
if this season He can play as great as in the AFCON,
15m is a bargain for us, we also lucky to get him before semi final cuz if it wasn’t, Arsenal will buy back him & put 40-50m price tag on market or put him in the squad, he’s definetly better than most of Arsenal midfield.
Coongratulation Ismaël & wecome to the family of Black/Red…
It’s good to note that both Kessie and Bennacer topped assist chart in the tournament.
Glad that Milan got Bennacer before now. Having won the tournament with Algeria and being voted MVP he’s transfer market is sky rocketed already. Good piece of business guys.
African champion and best AFCON player at 22 yo , ahead of Mahrez , Salah , Mane and a lot more stars, and the player with the most assists in the tournament. BBC reported this morning his price went crazy high and that was even before he won the best player , bus still some fans who’ve never seen him play call him average and think Sensi is better !
Congratulations Bennacer , every algerian soul is proud of you , and i wish in few months every rossonero will be proud of you too <3
This is how you silence all the naysayers who called him average for playing for Empoli. No Salah, Mane or any other players in big leagues out shone Bennacer at the AFCON tournament. None. His stats are even better than Lucas Torriera.
Won best player and best young player , and made more assists in 8 games than Sensi did his whole carreer. Hope he continues the good work for milan.
i don’t think we need another midfielder if using 4312. We have Paqueta/Bona-Bennacer/Biglia-Kessie/Krunic with Calha/Suso as trequartista.
Hi Agustinar,
Interesting comment you made yes your correct they have a few midfielders.
Milan have to challenge Juve Inter, Napoli, Roma next season for a position in Champions League.
In your opinion do you think they will give it to Milan. I think they need the next super Sth American “Everton”
I think the only missing in our midfield is a combative DM. Sadly, we missed to sign Veretout. Hope we could sign a DM like the legendary Marcel Dessailly. Anyone watching the friendly game against Novara? Please update on how Tiago Djalo played. Was he playing as a CB or a DM? I think that he has talent to be a great player in the future.
They did not show it. You might just have to go to YouTube for highlights. Plus the few I saw were ground lvl so it would be hard to see how he played. He did not start but did sub in. I want to see him and gabbia in the preseason games to see how they pair up with Roman
I took time to watch this guy, he has a lot of energy, plus good passing ability hope he develops and becomes world class
for 16m he seems to be a bargain. Arsenal must be regretting seeing another talent player slip through. They lost Gnabry 2 seasons ago, now he won best player in African nations. Great signing but Maldini. He will surely develop to become a fine player. with paqueta and him, our midfield will contain two of the best young talent in world football. If Giampaolo can get the best out of Kessie he is another potential world class talent.