Arsenal: Please stop acting like Ismael Bennacer doesn’t exist

Arsenal’s midfield is going to need some reinforcement, so why does the club seem to have forgotten that Ismael Bennacer even exists?

In case you haven’t been able to tell by my recent posts, I am less than pleased with the way that Arsenal are handling this transfer window thus far. They are tip-toeing around the marketplace and not getting a damn thing done. And some of the things are are looking at getting done don’t seem to matter one bit.

Then there is the matter of the midfield, and needing help there. Not in the deeper midfield, mind you, but in central midfield, having someone who can do what Mesut Ozil failed to do. Meaning someone who actually knows how to put the work in.

Unai Emery clearly likes a three midfield set, and he currently has three midfielders, but that’s a fragile set-up, and with Mohamed Elneny set to depart, we need help in that midfield. As mentioned, someone who can do the hard work and pitch in creatively as well.

That’s not an easy find on a limited budget. But oh wait… it is. There’s this guy named Ismael Bennacer, who spent time in the Arsenal system, who reportedly has a buyback clause in his Empoli contract.

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According to more recent reports, the Gunners have suffered a “setback” with Napoli lodging a £10.6m bid for the services of Bennacer.

If that’s a setback, then we’re screwed. That’s such a small-time bid that would secure us the exact same thing we are trying to get out of Dennis Praet, for less than half the cost. Bennacer is a defensive stalwart, he plays the game similar to Lucas Torreira with unending effort, and he pitched in five assists to the Empoli cause this season, in nearly 3000 minutes worth of play.

Bennacer ticks all the boxes, he’s already acquainted with the Emirates, having spent time here, he’s only 21, he’s super cheap, and yet apparently Unai Emery isn’t anywhere near enthused to go after the young Algerian midfielder.

Color me confused. Because I really don’t understand how such an obvious solution, coming on in the cheap, can’t even pique any kind of interest. And if he ends up going to Napoli for such a trifling fee, while Pablo Fornals goes to West Ham for a fee that we could also afford… then I just don’t know what we’re doing.

I just wish we’d stop acting like Bennacer doesn’t exist. Because trust me, he does.