Football's Nearly Men - Adel Taarabt

 

Adel Taarabt was born on the 24th of May 1989 in Fez, Morocco and at a young age, his family moved to a small town in France where he began his career at Lens in 2004. He played 14 matches for RC Lens B in the Championnat de France amateur and made one first team appearance for Lens during the 2006–07 season. Here he drew attention from the senior staff as his flair shone through and after he got his chance at Lens in two matches for the first team, that was enough to see him eyed up by several big clubs in Europe. The youngster looked set to join Arsenal but ditched the Gunners when their local rivals Tottenham came knocking. He was signed by Spurs in 2007 and at this stage of his career, it’s reported that he trained fairly intensely. Having just become an adult it was a sign of Taarabt’s later character that he looked to outskill every opponent he faced at Tottenham. Manager Martin Jol said, "On the ball I don't think there's another talent like him in England. He is a wizard, but he has to learn to play with the other guys. If he learns that, he will be a Ginola for us because he is so good. I want to play him in the hole, but for an 18-year-old lad he is not covering a lot of ground so that is why we will work on him every day." Viewed as a long-term project by Spurs, they gave the youngster fifteen games before he was loaned out to fellow London side, Queen’s Park Rangers, in 2009. Immediately, Adel made an impact as a dangerous number 10 who was anything but predictable, with flair and skills in abundance. The manager of the time, Neil Warnock, was impressed by his ability to change a game from attacking midfield but initially QPR were unable to make the transfer permanent because they could not afford the £4.5 million valuation placed on him by Spurs. In March 2010, Taarabt was quoted in an interview as being sorry he had signed for Tottenham, saying, "The big mistake was to sign for Tottenham and not go to another club when I first came over." On the 5th of August 2010, Taarabt did sign a three-year contract with QPR for an undisclosed fee but although there were plenty of highlight moments with the entire 2010/11 season being near-perfection, there were also a lot of discipline issues. In the the 2012–13 season, a 2–1 win over West London rivals Fulham, with Adel scoring twice, the second with a mazy dribble ending with a finish on the outside of his foot had Manager Harry Redknapp praising him by stating, "It was one of the all-time great performances, I felt." 

Following loan spells at Fulham in 2013 and A.C. Milan in 2014 he returned to QPR but his lack of form led to him falling out of favour under the QPR boss Harry Redknapp, who in 2014, publicly humiliated the attacking midfielder after he was completely axed from the Premier League squad to face Liverpool. Redknapp said: 'He is not injured. He's not fit. He's not fit to play football unfortunately. He played in a reserve game the other day and I could have run about more than he did. I can't pick him.' Adel's career was quickly plummeting into the realms of mediocrity when he joined Portuguese side Benfica in the summer of 2015. QPR had been relegated to the Championship and his contract at Loftus Road had been terminated by mutual consent. Although things did not go according to plan straight away with him being sent on loan for 18 months to Italian side Genoa, then spending another seven months with the Portugese side's reserve team, he finally made his debut for Benfica in a Primeira Liga clash with Tondela. It signalled the start of his renaissance as he rediscovered the flame which had gone out. He learned how to regain control of both his body and his mind in an unfamiliar defensive midfield position, and he proved that to Benfica when he returned there. For a while he became the player every former manager was looking for, but as ever that did not last long and he was shipped out on an 18-month loan to Italian outfit Genoa in January 2017 before returning the following year. On the 1st of September 2022, Benfica announced the termination of his contract and on the 25th of September 2022, after being told to lose weight to be ready for the first team and also being spotted out and about in Lisbon at 3:30am on a Saturday morning only hours before Benfica’s Primeira Liga match, he joined Emirati club Al-Nasr SC.

While playing in England, for the likes of Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers and Fulham, the Moroccan had picked up a questionable reputation - he had the flair and skill to dazzle opponents but his attitude was brought into the spotlight. Unfortunately for Taarabt, who had won Football League Player of the Year in the 2010-11 season, as QPR won the Championship, the latter had dented his chances of becoming a superstar on the biggest stage. Taarabt's career was quickly swaying towards the wayside while at QPR and his character and inconsistency came under plenty of questioning wherever he played. He reflects, "I see some people making comments that I could have been one of the best players, but I don’t think like this. Because I enjoyed my time, when I was 18, 19, 20. When I was 18 I was already at Tottenham, at QPR I had great moments, I played for AC Milan which is a great club, and I played Champions League with them. I played with some Ballon d’Or winners, I played with Luka Modric, I played with Kaka. OK, maybe it could have been better, but I am still very proud of the career that I had."