‘I’ve been a supporter since I was a kid, there were no other clubs’ – Ismaël Bennacer speaks after joining Marseille | OneFootball

Olympique de Marseille’s new signing Ismaël Bennacer was presented to the media and the club’s supporters gathered at the club’s Robert-Louis-Dreyfus training ground yesterday afternoon. With Algerian flags abundant to welcome Bennacer, a self-proclaimed Marseille supporter who grew up in nearby Arles, after already being mobbed at Marseille’s airport the day before by OM supporters when he arrived to sign on a loan move with an option to buy in the dying hours of the winter transfer window. The Algerian international was presented at a press conference with former striker and current institutional & sporting advisor Fabrizio Ravanelli. “His mentality enabled him to make his mark at AC Milan, where it’s really not easy,” insisted Fabrizio Ravanelli, transcribed by La Provence. He plays a physical game and is aggressive towards his opponents, while at the same time being very good at recovering possession and passing the ball. I have a lot of faith in him.““It was a very emotional day, too emotional in fact,” smiled OM’s new number 22. “The fans make me want to do great things.”“I’ve been a fan of OM since I was a kid, there were no other clubs. I always wanted to play for OM, it was in the back of my mind,” he insists. So when OM came back with their interest again for Bennacer this winter, it was a no-brainer for the midfielder, “I wanted to go to OM and not to any other club. That’s what I wanted.”GFFN | George Boxall