Youssef En-Nesyri turned down a move to the Premier League with West Ham United and is now becoming ‘impossible to defend against’ for La Liga outfit Sevilla.
Mark Hughes had his volleys. Thierry Henry would often roll the ball cooly into the far corner with his right foot. En-Nesyri, meanwhile, is rapidly making spring-heeled headers his very own unique, Mortal Kombat-style ‘finisher move’.
After knocking Portugal out of the Qatar World Cup with a typically towering finish, the Morocco international pulled out his party trick once again as Sevilla maintained their recent resurgence with a 2-1 win over Champions League-chasing Villarreal on Sunday afternoon.
Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri rejects West Ham United
“It is a crucial 94th minute winner from En-Nesyri. Almost impossible to defend against him when the ball is delivered in properly,” Spanish football expert Terry Gibson tells El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast.
“You can see him on the move, and he jumps… He’s got a fantastic leap. You then lean towards the opinion that it is actually impossible to stop him if the delivery is right. His movement his good, and his technique has improved with his heading.
“(Villarreal defender Alfonso) Pedraza criticised himself heavily after the game. But there is nothing you can do.
“You can try and get close and tight. Impede the player as much as you possibly can. But when you get a big, strong, dynamic player full of determination, there’s very little you can do.”
According to Estadio Deportivo, En-Nesyri turned down a £17 million January move to West Ham; just weeks after helping Morocco become the first African team in World Cup history to reach the semi-finals.
That Villarreal winner – coming just days after En-Nesyri pounced on horror mistakes from David de Gea and Harry Maguire to knock Manchester United out of the Europa League – means the former Leganes frontman has now scored 20 goals for club and country in 2022/23.
There is, of course, no guarantee that En-Nesyri would have been quite so prolific in England. Gianluca Scamacca is, after all, the latest talented centre-forward failing to live up to lofty expectations at West Ham.
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