Yasin Ben El-Mhanni

Yasin Ben El-Mhanni
Ben El-Mhanni playing for Lewes in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1995-10-26) 26 October 1995
Place of birth Chelsea, England[1]
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing position Winger
Youth career
Barnet
Aldershot Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 Farnborough 4 (0)
2015–2016 Lewes 11 (0)
2016–2018 Newcastle United 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:54, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

Yasin Ben El-Mhanni (born 26 October 1995) is an English professional footballer who last played as a winger for Newcastle United.

Before joining Newcastle, he played in non-league football with Farnborough and Lewes. Ben El-Mhanni also achieved relative fame early in his career through online videos and television commercials, in which he demonstrated his trickery.

Club career

Early career

Born in Shepherd's Bush, London, Ben El-Mhanni played futsal on the streets as a child before joining the AG Academy.[3] He was soon signed by Barnet before playing with Aldershot Town, as well as Isthmian League clubs Farnborough and Lewes.[4] While playing in the southern leagues, Ben El-Mhanni made a name for himself on YouTube where videos of his skill and trickery earned him the chance to star in commercials for Sports on Screen.[4] For the commercials, Ben El-Mhanni flew to Spain and acted as a body double and skill consultant for Brazil and Barcelona star Neymar, as well as multiple Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.[4] His display of skill in the lower English leagues saw him dubbed the "non-League Riyad Mahrez" because of his Moroccan heritage and similar style-of-play.[5]

In 2015 and 2016, Ben El-Mhanni trialed with several Premier League clubs, including Watford, Bournemouth, West Brom, Crystal Palace and Chelsea.[6][3] During his spell with Chelsea, Ben El-Mhanni trained under first-team manager Guus Hiddink and scored on his debut for the reserve side.[4]

Newcastle United

On 8 July 2016, Ben El-Mhanni was signed by then Championship club Newcastle United.[7][8] His debut came on 18 January 2017 in the third round of the FA Cup, in which he played 70 minutes in a 3–1 win over Championship rivals Birmingham.[9] Ben El-Mhanni featured again in the next round, but could not help prevent Newcastle from being eliminated at the hands of League One club Oxford United.[10]

In January 2018, Ben El-Mhanni filed a grievance against Newcastle academy coach Peter Beardsley, accusing him of bullying and discrimination.[11] Beardsley was placed on gardening leave and at the end of the season an independent appeal body found that he had used discriminatory language and conducted himself in a generally unfair manner towards El-Mhanni.[12] In March, between the appeal process but unrelated thereto, El-Mhanni was advised that his contract with Newcastle would not be renewed.[13][14]

Personal life

Ben El-Mhanni was born in London to Moroccan parents Mostafa and Naima.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Who is Yasin Ben El-Mhanni?". Newcastle United Official Site. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Y. Ben El-Mhanni". Soccerway. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 Hytner, David (7 January 2016). "West Brom take non-league forward Yasin Ben El-Mhanni on trial". Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Easterby, Tom (18 January 2017). "Who is Yasin Ben El-Mhanni?". Newcastle United Football Club. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  5. ↑ Ryder, Lee (8 July 2016). "Done deal: Newcastle United sign non-league's answer to Riyad Mahrez". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  6. ↑ Phillippe, Charlie (30 November 2016). "Liverpool and Spurs suffer blow: YouTube sensation trains with Chelsea today". Express. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Easterby, Tom (8 July 2016). "Magpies Sign Young Duo". Newcastle United Football Club. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "Yasin signs for the Toon". Lewes Football Club. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  9. ↑ Waugh, Chris (18 January 2017). "Newcastle United debut watch: How did Yasin Ben El-Mhanni, Stuart Findlay and Dan Barlaser perform?". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. ↑ White, Jim (28 January 2017). "Oxford 3 Newcastle United 0: League One side stun Rafa Benitez's men". Telegraph. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. ↑ Coverdale, David (6 January 2018). "Newcastle legend Peter Beardsley accused of bullying YouTube sensation Yasin Ben El-Mhanni". The Sun. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Hutchinson, Lisa (6 June 2018). "Peter Beardsley's treatment of Yasin Ben El-Mhanni was 'generally unfair', says independent appeal". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  13. ↑ Coverdale, David (8 March 2018). "Newcastle starlet Yasin Ben El-Mhanni told by Magpies he will be released at end of the season". The Sun. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Taylor, Louise (9 March 2018). "Newcastle player at centre of Peter Beardsley allegations released by club". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
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