The Moroccan returns to Portugal after a turbulent career.
It is the story of a creative milieu that had everything going for it.
“Ball in the foot, I don’t think there is another talent like him in England”, said Martin Jol, his coach at Tottenham thirteen years ago. Trained in Lens, the native of Fez had left the Sang et Or on a whim. As a teenager, the midfielder who has just celebrated his 31st birthday was already a player apart, temperamental but able to reverse a meeting on his own.
England got to know him on April 3, 2007. Spurs lost 3-2 to West Ham with just minutes from time. Jol took out defender Pascal Chimbonda to bring in designer Taarabt. Ten minutes later, Tottenham left Boleyn Ground with the three points after a superb comeback initiated by the Moroccan. This service symbolizes the career of the median. Capable of many blows of brilliance but also of dreary period when genius is self-destructive.
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