Zakaria Bakkali

[Yid]

Fantastic little player. Actually blew me away at the Tuolon tournament. He came on in the 2nd half (against who I can't recall) and he took the ball in his own half and dribbled through everyone and he just made it look so easy. I wouldn't throw it around loosely but he looked a little like Messi with the control of the ball and just seemed to have that vision of knowing exactly where he was trying to go. He's got a really stout build that looks a bit like Shaqiri. His style of play is somewhat like Shaqiri as well. He's a stout little fucker.

Everyone knows he really got off to a hot start with that hat trick for PSV, but his style of play is so refined for a young player. His Tuolon tournament was fantastic (despite Belgium being terrible on the whole). I don't know if anyone saw it, but he scored a stoppage time equalizer against Mexico where he came out of nowhere on the right and drilled this shot from an impossible angle.

PSV appear to have a ton of trust in him already at such a young age. They actively look to get him the ball and the match I watched he was even taking free kicks already. High praise for a side like PSV who is always going to be battling it out with Ajax for the Eredivisie crown.

That being said, I think this transfer (even if it were a buy-to-loan deal) is incredibly unlikely. PSV don't need to sell him and I doubt Bakkali is pushing for a move as he's really going to be able to make a name for himself. All he has to do is look at what Viktor Fischer did for himself last year for Ajax and think he can emulate that.

Good read,
Thanks for the update, Snarf!
I like that Shaqiri (one of my faves) comparison, btw.

 

[fatpiranha]

Fantastic little player. Actually blew me away at the Tuolon tournament. He came on in the 2nd half (against who I can't recall) and he took the ball in his own half and dribbled through everyone and he just made it look so easy. I wouldn't throw it around loosely but he looked a little like Messi with the control of the ball and just seemed to have that vision of knowing exactly where he was trying to go. He's got a really stout build that looks a bit like Shaqiri. His style of play is somewhat like Shaqiri as well. He's a stout little fucker.

Everyone knows he really got off to a hot start with that hat trick for PSV, but his style of play is so refined for a young player. His Tuolon tournament was fantastic (despite Belgium being terrible on the whole). I don't know if anyone saw it, but he scored a stoppage time equalizer against Mexico where he came out of nowhere on the right and drilled this shot from an impossible angle.

PSV appear to have a ton of trust in him already at such a young age. They actively look to get him the ball and the match I watched he was even taking free kicks already. High praise for a side like PSV who is always going to be battling it out with Ajax for the Eredivisie crown.

That being said, I think this transfer (even if it were a buy-to-loan deal) is incredibly unlikely. PSV don't need to sell him and I doubt Bakkali is pushing for a move as he's really going to be able to make a name for himself. All he has to do is look at what Viktor Fischer did for himself last year for Ajax and think he can emulate that.

I love watching the Toulon tournament as there's no real pressure to win it and you often get very entertaining open football as a consequence but it isn't a top level tournament and very few players who do well in it actually go on to have stellar careers. Lloris, Riquelme and Rui Costa are the biggest names who have played in it. France often win it with their U21 3rd team and the vast majority of players are never really heard of again.

Players i've watched in the Toulon tournament who have looked absolutely fantastic at this level often look quite ordinary or don't even make the squads for the real youth tournaments that consistently produce great prospects like the World U20s and the Euro U21s. The best I can do are the like of Kevin Prince Boateng, Kevin Gameiro, Vaz Te, Geovinco, Youssouf Mulumbu, Keisuke Honda, Antonio Nocerino, Marchisio and Pablo Osvaldo. Most of the others that I thought were promising talents at this level disappeared without trace.

I'm not saying that Bakkali won't make it. I also watched him in a couple of games and was impressed but Toulon Tournament level is definitely not good enough to make a serious judgement on. Euro U19s is the minimum level to be able to assess a player's potential IMHO and for the money being quoted i'd wait until he had shown something on a bigger stage.

 

[Parker8]

Who's Unreal? Never heard of him

Pretty sure he plays for Arsenal.

Nacho Unreal.