Moroccan footballer
Oussama Assaidi
Assaidi playing for
Morocco
in 2011
|
|
Full name
|
Oussama Assaidi
|
---|
Date of birth
|
(
1988-08-15
)
15 August 1988
(age 35)
|
---|
Place of birth
|
Ait Bouyafar, Morocco
|
---|
Height
|
1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
[1]
|
---|
Position(s)
|
Winger
|
---|
|
2003?2006
|
AZ
|
---|
|
Years
|
Team
|
Apps
|
(
Gls
)
|
---|
2006?2008
|
Omniworld
|
36
|
(3)
|
---|
2008?2009
|
De Graafschap
|
17
|
(6)
|
---|
2009?2012
|
Heerenveen
|
79
|
(20)
|
---|
2012?2015
|
Liverpool
|
12
|
(0)
|
---|
2013?2015
|
→
Stoke City
(loan)
|
28
|
(4)
|
---|
2015?2016
|
Al-Ahli Dubai
|
14
|
(3)
|
---|
2017
|
Jong FC Twente
|
1
|
(0)
|
---|
2017?2019
|
Twente
|
41
|
(7)
|
---|
Total
|
|
228
|
(46)
|
---|
|
2011?2015
|
Morocco
|
17
|
(2)
|
---|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
|
Oussama Assaidi
(
Riffian-Berber
: ????? ???????; born 15 August 1988) is a Moroccan former
footballer
who played as a
winger
.
[2]
Assaidi began his career in the Netherlands with
AZ
. After failing to earn a contract with AZ, he played with
second tier
club
FC Omniworld
and then
De Graafschap
before joining
Heerenveen
in 2009. His performances at the
Abe Lenstra Stadion
earned him international recognition with the
Morocco national team
and also attracted the attention of bigger European clubs. Assaidi signed with English
Premier League
side
Liverpool
in August 2012 for a fee of
£
2.4 million. He struggled to break into the first team at
Anfield
, however, and joined
Stoke City
on loan for the
2013?14
and
2014?15
seasons, before being sold to
Al-Ahli Dubai
in January 2015.
A full international since 2011, Assaidi represented Morocco at the
Africa Cup of Nations
in
2012
and
2013
.
Club career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Assaidi was born in
Beni-Boughafer
, in northern
Morocco
, before his family moved to
Amsterdam
. He began his career with the
AZ
academy where he spent three years before leaving in 2006 to begin his professional career at
Omniworld
in the
Eerste Divisie
. After two seasons with the club from
Almere
, where he scored 3 goals in 36 games, he moved to
De Graafschap
to play in the
Eredivisie
, the top flight of Dutch football, in the summer of 2008. Assaidi spent just one year with the club before moving to
Heerenveen
on the last day of the transfer window. The move was seen as surprising because Heerenveen had said that they were not planning to buy any new players, but the performance of Assaidi at the beginning of the
2009?10 Eredivisie
, scoring five goals in five games, meant that an exception was made to bring Assaidi to the club.
Heerenveen
[
edit
]
Assaidi made his Heerenveen debut in a 1?0 loss at home to arch-rivals
Groningen
, where he came on in the 71st minute as a substitute for
Paulo Henrique
. He also scored his first goal for Heerenveen in the second round of the
KNVB Cup
in a 7?0 away win against
SDC Putten
. After coming off the bench in the next three league games, Assaidi was given his first place in the starting line-up for in an away match against
Willem II
, which Heerenveen lost 4?1. Assaidi's first league goal for Heerenveen came in a 3?1 defeat to
Heracles
, which was also the first game where he played the full 90 minutes for the club. Assaidi lost his starting place towards the end of the season, with only 2 starts in the last 14 games of the season. It was during this period that Assaidi received the first red card of his career in an away match against
Roda JC
, after just nine minutes.
Under new manager
Ron Jans
, Assaidi became a key figure in the side. With two goals against his old club De Graafschap and
Vitesse
, combined with two assists against De Graafschap and
NAC Breda
, Assaidi was responsible for four goals in the first six games, the same number of goals that he created in his whole previous season. Assaidi had his best month in November 2010, when he scored in a 2?0 win against
Excelsior
, and delivered two assists against Heracles (3?2), 1 against
Feyenoord
(2?2) and 2 against Willem II (5?0). In December, Assaidi displayed a Man of the Match performance in a home match against defending champions
Twente
, where, despite an ankle injury, Assaidi led Heerenveen to a crushing 6?2 win over the champions by scoring the first hat-trick of his career, whilst also delivering two assists and winning a penalty. After the match, he was applauded for his performance by Jans, who said that Assaidi deserved a "10 out of 10 for his play".
[3]
[4]
His performances would later be rewarded with a first international call-up by
Morocco national team
head coach
Erik Gerets
for a friendly against
Niger
.
[5]
Liverpool
[
edit
]
On 17 August 2012, English
Premier League
side
Liverpool
agreed a deal to sign Assaidi for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of £2.4 million.
[6]
[7]
[8]
Liverpool manager
Brendan Rodgers
hailed the deal, saying that he was "delighted", and described Assaidi as "an exciting player...that will excite the crowd".
[9]
He made his debut on 20 September against
Young Boys
in a 5?3
UEFA Europa League
win, before registering an assist in a 2?1 win over
West Bromwich Albion
in the
League Cup
six days later.
[10]
[11]
Due to impressive performances from young fellow wingers
Raheem Sterling
and
Suso
, however, Assaidi failed to break through to Liverpool's regular starting line-up, making 12 appearances in
2012?13
of which four were in the league.
Loans to Stoke City
[
edit
]
On 27 August 2013, Assaidi joined
Stoke City
on loan for the
2013?14 season
.
[12]
[13]
Speaking after joining Stoke, Assaidi revealed that he turned down other Premier League clubs after he held positive talks with Stoke manager
Mark Hughes
.
[14]
He made his debut for Stoke in a 3?1 victory over
Walsall
in the League Cup on 31 August 2013.
[15]
He played in the next round of the League Cup
Tranmere Rovers
after coming on as a 61st-minute substitute, he provided an assist for
Peter Crouch
to secure a 2?0 victory.
[16]
He made his Premier League debut for Stoke on 5 October 2013, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 1?0 defeat against
Fulham
.
[17]
Assaidi scored his first goal for Stoke in a League Cup match against
Birmingham City
on 29 October 2013.
[18]
On 7 December, he scored the winning goal in a 3?2 victory against
Chelsea
, which was Stoke's first league win over the Blues since 1975.
[19]
Assaidi scored a similar goal against
Newcastle United
on 26 December and also found the net against
Everton
on 1 January 2014.
[20]
[21]
On 20 February, it was revealed that Assaidi suffered ligament damage during a club training camp in
Dubai
, ruling him out for up to six weeks.
[22]
Upon returning from injury Assaidi scored in a 4?1 win against
Fulham
on 3 May 2014.
[23]
Stoke manager Mark Hughes admitted that he would like to sign Assaidi on a permanent basis.
[24]
Stoke, however, was unhappy with Liverpool's asking price.
[25]
On 1 September 2014, Assaidi re-joined Stoke City on loan for the
2014?15 season
.
[26]
[27]
After making 11 appearances for Stoke, eight as a substitute, he was recalled by Liverpool in January 2015.
[28]
Al-Ahli Dubai
[
edit
]
On his return to Liverpool, Assaidi was sold to
UAE Arabian Gulf League
side
Al-Ahli Dubai
for a fee reported to be in the region of £4.7 million.
[29]
[30]
He made 14 appearances (six starts) in
the year's
AFC Champions League
, in which his team lost the final 1?0 on aggregate to
Guangzhou Evergrande
.
[31]
On 15 November 2016, Assaidi was released by the club. Assaidi later admitted that he only signed for the club due to the salary, and that he was ready to return to the Premier League.
[32]
Twente and Retirement
[
edit
]
On 24 December 2016, Assaidi returned to the Dutch Eredivisie after signing two-and-a-half year deal with Twente.
[33]
Assaidi departed Twente at the end of the 2018-19 season, he then started his own sports gym in Morocco called “PlayersHome” with Kamal El Makrini.
[34]
International career
[
edit
]
Assaidi was eligible to play for both the
Netherlands
or
Morocco
. His first invitation for a senior team came in February 2011, when Morocco national team coach Eric Gerets called him up for Morocco's friendly match against Niger.
[5]
Assaidi made his debut in Morocco's 4?0 win over Niger, coming on as a substitute in the 77th minute for
Adel Taarabt
. Since it was a friendly, however, Assaidi was still eligible to play for the Netherlands. He announced on 14 February 2011 that his choice for Morocco was definite.
[35]
Assaidi scored his first Morocco goal on 4 June 2011 in a 4?0
2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier
win against
Algeria
.
[36]
In
the final tournament
in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, he started Morocco's opening game at the
Stade d'Angondje
in
Libreville
, being replaced by Adel Taarabt at half-time in a 2?1 loss to rivals
Tunisia
.
[37]
He took no further part as Morocco were eliminated from their group. Assaidi started two games in the
next year's edition of the tournament
in South Africa, where his team fell at the same hurdle.
On 16 November 2014, Assaidi scored his first international goal for over three years, a long-range equaliser in a 2?1 friendly win over
Zimbabwe
.
[38]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
International
[
edit
]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
[41]
National team
|
Year
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Morocco
|
2011
|
7
|
1
|
2012
|
2
|
0
|
2013
|
4
|
0
|
2014
|
2
|
1
|
2015
|
2
|
0
|
Total
|
17
|
2
|
International goals
[
edit
]
- Scores and results list Morocco's goal tally first.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]