Arsenal have made some transfer mistakes over the years, it has to be said.
Indeed, sometimes Arsenal are guilty of letting players leave before they’re able to mature and hit their potential.
Serge Gnabry became a superstar after leaving Arsenal, Donyell Malen is scoring for fun in Italy after leaving the Gunners, while Folarin Balogun has been one of the stars of the World Cup.
For a long time, it appeared as though Arsenal had made another error in the shape of Ismael Bennacer.
The Algerian midfielder was in the Arsenal ranks as a young player, but he was let go in 2017.
The midfielder, since then, has been building a rather respectable career over in Italy, and, at one point, he had become a star for AC Milan.
However, more recently, Bennacer’s career has been on the slide, and Arsenal’s call has been vindicated.
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AC Milan release Ismael Bennacer
At one point, Arsenal fans were calling for Bennacer to be re-signed after a string of solid performances for AC Milan.
However, it would appear that the Algerian hadn’t quite discovered the magic formula over in Italy, and that purple patch did eventually come to an end.
Bennacer has had a difficult last 18 months. He went out on loan to Marseille in January 2025 where he failed to impress, before spending last year on loan at Dinamo Zagreb – again, failing to make an impression.
Now Bennacer is leaving Milan on a free transfer to continue his career in Qatar with Al Shamal.
In the space of two years, Bennacer has gone from being an AC Milan starter to a wantaway escaping to Qatar, and his top-level career appears to be over at the age of just 28.
Arsenal’s call to not invest in this player as a youngster has been vindicated, and while the Gunners perhaps could’ve got more out of Bennacer, it’s fair to say he was never cut out to be a starter for a Premier League title winning team.
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