Anwar El Ghazi

Anwar El Ghazi
El Ghazi playing for Ajax in March 2015
Personal information
Full name Anwar Faqu El Ghazi
Date of birth (1995-05-03) 3 May 1995
Place of birth Barendrecht, Netherlands
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Winger
Club information
Current team
 Aston Villa (on loan from Lille)
Number 22
Youth career
2000–2006 BVV Barendrecht
2006–2008 Feyenoord
2008–2009 Spartaan '20
2009–2013 Sparta Rotterdam
2013–2014 Ajax
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2017 Ajax 70 (20)
2017– Lille 39 (5)
2018– → Aston Villa (loan) 4 (1)
National team‡
2011 Netherlands U17 2 (1)
2012–2013 Netherlands U18 3 (2)
2014–2016 Netherlands U21 11 (3)
2015 Netherlands 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:02, 4 July 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:03, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Anwar El Ghazi (Arabic: أنور الغازي‎ ; born 3 May 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Championship club Aston Villa and the Netherlands national team as a winger.

Club career

Early career

El Ghazi began his football career in the youth ranks of his local club BVV Barendrecht, joining the youth academy of Feyenoord for two seasons. He then joined the ranks of Spartaan '20 before being recruited to Sparta Rotterdam, where he progressed through the academy. In 2013, he joined the Ajax Youth Academy, playing for the A1 selection (under-19), competing in the UEFA Youth League.[1]

Ajax

El Ghazi was signed by Ajax in July 2013.[2] During the 2014–15 pre-season, he scored 8 goals in 150 minutes of playing time, finishing as Ajax's top pre-season scorer. While Ajax initially intended to send El Ghazi to their reserve team, Jong Ajax, El Ghazi's pre-season prompted Ajax to include him in the first-team squad, following the loan of fellow winger Lesley de Sa to Go Ahead Eagles. El Ghazi made his official debut for Ajax in the 2014 Johan Cruyff Shield against PEC Zwolle, coming on for Ricardo Kishna in the 1–0 loss at home.[3]

El Ghazi made his regular season debut for Ajax in the 2014–15 Eredivisie season opener against Vitesse. The match ended in a 4–1 home victory, with El Ghazi providing the assist for the fourth goal by Lasse Schöne in the 87th minute.[4] On 17 August 2014, El Ghazi scored his first Eredivisie goal in the 3–1 away win against AZ, scoring in the 90th minute.[5] He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on 22 October 2014 at Camp Nou against Barcelona in the 88th minute of a 3–1 loss. In so doing, he became the first player to score at Camp Nou since the beginning of the 2014–15 season, when Barcelona went five matches at home without conceding a goal.[6]

Lille

On 31 January 2017, it was announced El Ghazi had been sold to French Ligue 1 side Lille for a €8 million transfer fee.[7]

Aston Villa

On 22 August 2018, El Ghazi signed for Championship club Aston Villa on a season-long loan, with a clause to buy included.[8] He made his debut on 25 August 2018 in a 1–1 draw with Reading, providing an assist by crossing the ball to Ahmed Elmohamady, who scored a header. [9]

International career

Having dual citizenship, El Ghazi was eligible to represent either the Netherlands or Morocco at senior level. He made his international debut playing for the Netherlands under-18 side in a friendly match against Austria on 15 October 2012, a 2–0 loss.[10]

El Ghazi met Cristiano Ronaldo during the summer break, a player who he looks up to, and asked him whether he should represent the Netherlands or Morocco. Ronaldo advised him to choose the Netherlands because he would have a higher chance to participate in an international tournament, based on their history. Consequently, El Ghazi said he would choose to represent the Netherlands and was subsequently called-up for the Netherlands' two final UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches, against Kazakhstan on 10 October 2015 and the Czech Republic on 13 October.[11] He was named to the Oranje's starting line-up for both matches as the Dutch defeated Kazakhstan 2–1 but lost to the Czechs 3–2. The Netherlands failed to qualify for the tournament proper after finishing fourth in their qualifying group.

Career statistics

As of match played 28 August 2018[12]
Club Season League Cup1 League Cup2 Continental3 Other4 Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Ajax 2014–15 31920—91104310
2015–16 271110—90—3711
2016–17 12021—61—202
Total 702051002421010023
Lille 2016–17 1211100——132
2017–18 2742020——314
Aston Villa (loan) 2018–19 2 1 0 0 1 0 — 0 0 2 0
Total 39531200000446
Career total 1102582302421014629

    Honours

    Individual

    References

    1. ↑ Voormalig Sparta-talent El-Ghazi mikt op Ajax 1, Rijnmond.nl, 6 May 2014
    2. ↑ "Ajax contracteert Anwar El-Ghazi". AFC Ajax. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
    3. ↑ "PEC Zwolle vs. Ajax". Soccerway. 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
    4. ↑ Ajax vs. Vitesse 4-1, Soccerway.co, 10 August 2014
    5. ↑ "AZ vs. Ajax". Soccerway. 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
    6. ↑ "El Ghazi zorgt voor opmerkelijke statistiek". Soccernews.nl. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
    7. ↑ "Ajax verkoopt El Ghazi aan Lille". NRC.nl. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
    8. ↑ "El Ghazi prêté à Aston Villa | Lille LOSC". www.losc.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-08-22.
    9. ↑ "Aston Villa 1-1 Reading". BBC Sport. 25 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
    10. ↑ "Speler: Anwar El-Ghazi". OnsOranje. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
    11. ↑ "El Ghazi in line for Netherlands debut". Soccerway. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
    12. ↑ "Anwar El Ghazi Socceway Profile". Retrieved 14 January 2017.
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