There was a brief period last summer when a rumour started doing the rounds that Arsenal could be bringing back Ismaël Bennacer.
The youngster had been previously sold to Empoli in Italy for just under £1m, flourishing during his time there both in Serie B and Serie A, and was touted for a big move elsewhere.
Milan eventually won the battle, signing him for £14m or so, where he is widely seen as the future for their midfield, still only 22 and already playing regularly.
However, there’s a little story behind how he ended up at Arsenal in the first place, which former Algeria international Omar Belbey was involved in.
Speaking in a Zoom call with 100filtre, the ex-midfielder revealed how he managed to engineer the youngster’s move from Arles-Avignon to one of the bigger Premier League clubs.
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He said: “There were agents that came to see me for Ismaël. I didn’t know him that much, I vaguely knew his dad. They were asking me if I could lend a helping hand, Lazio wanted him. At the time, there were many clubs after him. He did a test there, it didn’t go well, he came back. His dad told me I had to take care of him. Since I could see the dad was going everywhere, speaking to whoever, I said let me try something.
“I called [Gilles] Grimandi at Arsenal. I told him I’ve got a kid, he’s an atomic bomb. He was playing for France’s U18s at the time. Gilles was watching the U20 World Cup somewhere in Eastern Europe. He told me: ‘Listen Omar, I’m not there. I’ll call you again at the end of the week when I’m in London’. Ten minutes later, he calls me and asks me who this kid is.
“I told him he’s a kid who’s here in Arles, he asks me how much, and I said he’s free, since he didn’t have a contract at the time. So he’s free, you can sign him like that. For a month I fought with his dad, who was telling me Sampdoria, Manchester City, Barcelona were after him.
“I said he needs to go to a club where he’ll progress. (…) and I eventually managed to get a week of trials for him [at Arsenal].”
The rest is history, since the Gunners signed Bennacer and kept him at the club for a couple of years, which included a loan at Tours in Ligue 2 for six months.
He only ever made one appearance for Arsenal’s first team, playing 71 minutes in a 3-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday back in October 2015.
