Mehdi Benatia has just joined Bayern Munich for £21million - but Blackpool once rejected the chance to sign him for £100,000!

Former manager Ian Holloway travelled to France five years ago to scout the central defender, who was playing for Clermont Foot and available for a relative pittance.

But chairman Karl Oyston, known for his parsimonious attitude to running the Seasiders, wouldn’t stump up the cash.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Mehdi Benatia's new boss attack Thomas Muller in training

What a difference: Mehdi Benatia (centre) has joined Bayern Munich for £21m, five years after Blackpool rejected the chance to sign the Morocco centre half for just £100,000

Parsimonious: Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston

Benatia was already a full Morocco international when Blackpool pulled the plug and subsequently joined Serie A side Udinese in 2010 on a free transfer.

From there the 27-year-old centre half’s career really took off and last July joined Roma for £10m.

Benatia had been heavily linked with Manchester United and Manchester City this summer before his switch to Bayern.

It does present quite the turnaround for the player, who also failed to earn a move to Freiburg after an unsuccessful trial around the same time Holloway was interested.

This heaps more embarrassment on those at Bloomfield Road, with the current incumbent Jose Riga still at loggerheads with the club’s hierarchy over the arrival of new players.

They had just eight senior professionals in the middle of July and – despite a raft of signings on the cheap – still look threadbare.

The only main target Riga has been allowed to land, Costa Rican Jose Miguel Cubero, is still struggling to obtain a work permit.

Riga has seen his side lose all five competitive fixtures so far this campaign and is visibly frustrated at the lack of movement in the transfer market – despite the window shutting on Monday.