Ismaël Bennacer
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Ismaël Bennacer ( ar, إسماعيل بن ناصر, ʼIsmāʻīl bin Nāṣir; born 1 December 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a
midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
for club
AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...
. Born in France, he represents the Algeria national team. At club level, Bennacer has represented teams in France,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and Italy throughout his career. At international level, he made his senior debut for Algeria in 2016, and has since represented his nation at three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations; he was a member of the team that won the 2019 edition, and was named the player of the tournament.


Club career


Early career

After starting his career with French club
Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
, Bennacer signed for
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
side Arsenal in July 2015. He made his senior Arsenal debut in the
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
fourth round away to
Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
on 27 October 2015, replacing
Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with ...
after 19 minutes, after the latter had already replaced the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in an eventual 3–0 loss. On 31 January 2017, it was announced that Bennacer would join Ligue 2 side
Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...
on loan for the remainder of the 2016–17 season. He scored his first goal for Tours on 14 April 2017 against
Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...
from a free kick. On 21 August 2017, Bennacer joined Italian club Empoli. In the 2017–18 Serie B season, Bennacer made 39 appearances and scored 2 goals as Empoli won the Serie B title, earning promotion to
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
. Despite Empoli's relegation the following season, Bennacer's performances confirmed his status as one of the most promising young midfielders in Europe.


AC Milan


2019–20 season

On 4 August 2019,
AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...
announced they had signed Bennacer from Empoli for a reported transfer fee of €16 million plus bonuses. He underwent his medical on 23 July and signed a five-year contract, with a reported salary of €1.5 million per season. He made his club debut on 25 August, coming on as a second–half substitute in a 1–0 away defeat to
Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...
in Serie A; his home and full–debut came on 31 August, in a 1–0 victory over
Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
. On 18 July 2020, he scored his first goal for the club and in the Italian top flight in a 5–1 home win over
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
in Serie A.


2020–21 season

Bennacer played 30 matches in all competitions, helping Milan to finish second in league table.


2021–22 season

Already a regular on Pioli's side, Bennacer form generated much praise from Italian pundits, showing dominating performance against the likes of Inter and Napoli. On 23 October 2021, as Milan was drawing 2–2 against
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Bennacer scored the third goal in an eventual 4–2 win. On 19 March 2022, Bennacer scored a screamer from outside the box against Cagliari, helping his team to win 1–0 and stay on the top of league table. For the first time in a single Serie A season, Bennacer has scored more than once. Bennacer won the league title with AC Milan on 22 May 2022 with a 0-3 win at U.S. Sassuolo Calcio. It was his first trophy with the club.


2022-23 season

On 12 January 2023, Bennacer extended his contract until 30 June 2027.


International career

Although he had previously represented France at youth level, on 31 July 2016, the Algerian Football Federation announced that Bennacer had opted to switch his international allegiance and represent Algeria internationally. He debuted for the Algeria national team in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier, a 6–0 win over Lesotho. Bennacer was called up on 11 January 2017 to Algeria's squad for the African Cup of Nations of
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
to replace Saphir Taïder, who suffered an injury in training. At the
2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football championshi ...
, Bennacer helped Algeria to their first title in 29 years, finishing the competition as the joint-top assist provider, alongside Franck Kessié, with three assists, including one for
Baghdad Bounedjah Baghdad Bounedjah ( ar, بغداد بونجاح, born 24 November 1991) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd and the Algeria national team. Throughout his club career, Bounedjah h ...
's match-winning goal against
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
in the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
on 19 July. He was later voted both the "Best Young Player" and the "Best Player" of the tournament.


Style of play

A dynamic, tenacious, energetic, diminutive, and versatile left-footed player, who is regarded as a highly promising prospect in modern football, Bennacer is capable of playing in several midfield roles, and has been used as a deep-lying playmaker in a holding role in midfield, as an
attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
, or as a central offensive-minded midfielder, known as the '' mezzala'' role in Italian football. His main characteristics are his speed, vision, intelligence, composure,
dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...
skills, passing, and technique; he is also known for his ability to transition from defence into attack.


Personal life

Bennacer was born in
Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
, France to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.


Career statistics


Club


International

:''Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first.''


Honours

Empoli *
Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...
: 2017–18 AC Milan *
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
: 2021–22 Algeria * Africa Cup of Nations:
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Individual * Best Player of the Africa Cup of Nations: 2019 * CAF Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennacer, Ismael 1997 births 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players AC Arlésien players Arsenal F.C. players Tours FC players Empoli F.C. players A.C. Milan players Algerian expatriate footballers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in England Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers Algerian people of Moroccan descent Association football midfielders Citizens of Algeria through descent Championnat National 3 players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy French footballers France youth international footballers French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England French sportspeople of Algerian descent French sportspeople of Moroccan descent Ligue 2 players Living people Moroccan footballers Moroccan people of Algerian descent Citizens of Morocco through descent Moroccan expatriate footballers Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in Italy People from Arles Serie A players Serie B players Sportspeople from Bouches-du-Rhône Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur