Oussama Assaidi believes he ‘should have made a better choice’ in the summer of 2012 when opting for Premier League giants Liverpool over Ajax, speaking to ESPN.
Now, the Liverpool team of 2012/13 certainly wasn’t the strongest Reds side in the Premier League era. Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were yet to arrive, with Assaidi facing competition instead from the likes of Stewart Downing for a place in Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI.
The Morocco international still only mustered 73 minutes of top-flight football for the Merseyside giants, however, before being farmed out on loan to Stoke City just 12 months after he arrived on English shores from Heerenveen.
And, with the benefit of hindsight, Assaidi accepts that one of the biggest clubs in Europe, let alone England, was probably too big a step for a young player arriving from a much-less glamorous league.
Oussama Assaidi regrets Liverpool spell
“I was able to easily keep up with the training,” Assaidi recalls. “I absolutely loved those players. Jamie Carragher, for example. Yes really!
“In the Europa League, I was Man of the Match twice. But, in the Premier League, I hardly got any minutes. How are you supposed to show (your talent) then? In retrospect, I should have made a better choice by going to Ajax first.
“(In the Premier League) the duels are harder. You are marked tightly.”
Liverpool still made a tidy profit on Assaidi, accepting a near-£5 million bid from UAE outfit Al-Ahli back in 2014. Now 34, the one-time Potters loanee has long since hung up his boots following a hit-and-miss spell back in the Netherlands with FC Twente.
“We’re delighted with the signing,” Rodgers told The Guardian following Assaidi’s £2.7 million arrival at Liverpool a decade ago; betraying an excitement that would be quickly extinguished. “He’s a young player who has done very well, in particular in the last couple of seasons in Holland.
“He fits our style perfectly. He’s an exciting player who is very good in one versus one situations. And I think he’s a player that will excite the crowd.
“We’re not expecting too much too early. I’ll look forward to helping his development and I hope he’ll become a very good part of this club.”
Liverpool made their fair share of forgettable signings during the pre-Klopp era. With four substitute appearances and just 73 minutes of action, Assaidi is right up there with the worst of them.
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