After Morocco beat Spain in the World Cup Round of 16, many Arsenal fans will have heard the name of Sofyan Amrabat in the headlines.
The 26-year-old delivered an incredible display at the base of Morocco’s midfield, with Foot Mercato claiming that Liverpool and Tottenham now want to sign him.
However, there was another Morocco international shining against Spain, who we think Mikel Arteta should be looking at amid the hype surrounding Amrabat.
What’s the story?
Well, starting alongside Amrabat in midfield was Azzedine Ounahi.
The 22-year-old’s display went under the radar amid Amrabat’s midfield masterclass and Achraf Hakimi’s bold panenka penalty to win the penalty shootout.
However, Ounahi was absolutely superb, and in our view, Arsenal could use the lack of attention surrounding his performance to their advantage, by making a sneaky January bid for his services.
The Morocco international played 119 minutes against Spain, making three successful tackles and nine recoveries, as well as three passes into the attacking third – as FotMob shows.
Ounahi also had 60 touches and completed 32 passes, on a day where he certainly didn’t look out of place against the likes of Sergio Busquets, Pedri and Gavi.
For all the hype surrounding Amrabat’s display – Squawka even suggested it may be the best performance of the World Cup so far – it is telling that Ounahi was given a 7.5 match rating, just 0.1 away from his teammate’s 7.6 ranking.
Luis Enrique even highlighted Ounahi’s performance after full-time, saying: “I was pleasantly surprised by number eight (Ounahi). My God, where is this boy from?”
Why Arsenal need Azzedine Ounahi
You may be wondering why we’ve picked Arsenal as the side who should make a move for Ounahi – in truth, there are many reasons.
One of those reasons is Arteta, and his ability to develop youngsters into reliable, first-team regulars, just like he has with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
As things stand, Ounahi is only valued at £3m on Transfermarkt – despite the fact he has a contract with Angers SCO until June 2026 – so Arteta and Edu could also potentially wrap up the deal for a bargain fee.
As you can see in the footage above, Ounahi is a very skilful midfielder, who has no problem playing out of pressure and moving the ball into dangerous areas, something Arteta is sure to be a fan of.
Another midfielder is certainly needed at the Emirates Stadium, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see Arsenal make a move for the Morocco World Cup star in January, while everybody else swoons over Amrabat.
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