Anwar El Ghazi
![]() El Ghazi playing for Ajax in March 2015 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Anwar Faqu El Ghazi | ||
Date of birth | 3 May 1995 | ||
Place of birth | Barendrecht, Netherlands | ||
Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
Position(s) | Winger | ||
Team 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) |
International career‡ | |||
2011 | Netherlands U17 | 2 | (1) |
2012–2013 | Netherlands U18 | 3 | (2) |
2014–2016 | Netherlands U21 | 11 | (3) |
2015 | Netherlands | 2 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, 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 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Ajax | 2014–15 | 31 | 9 | 2 | 0 | — | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 10 | |
2015–16 | 27 | 11 | 1 | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | — | 37 | 11 | |||
2016–17 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 6 | 1 | — | 20 | 2 | |||
Total | 70 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 23 | |
Lille | 2016–17 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 2 | ||
2017–18 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 4 | |||
Aston Villa (loan) | 2018–19 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
Total | 39 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 6 | |
Career total | 110 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 146 | 29 |
- 1.^ Includes KNVB Cup and Coupe de France.
- 2.^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue.
- 3.^ Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
- 4.^ Includes Johan Cruyff Shield.
Honours
Individual
- AFC Ajax Talent of the Year: 2015
References
- ^ Voormalig Sparta-talent El-Ghazi mikt op Ajax 1, Rijnmond.nl, 6 May 2014
- ^ "Ajax contracteert Anwar El-Ghazi". AFC Ajax. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
- ^ "PEC Zwolle vs. Ajax". Soccerway. 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
- ^ Ajax vs. Vitesse 4-1, Soccerway.co, 10 August 2014
- ^ "AZ vs. Ajax". Soccerway. 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
- ^ "El Ghazi zorgt voor opmerkelijke statistiek". Soccernews.nl. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
- ^ "Ajax verkoopt El Ghazi aan Lille". NRC.nl. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- ^ "El Ghazi prêté à Aston Villa | Lille LOSC". www.losc.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ^ "Aston Villa 1-1 Reading". BBC Sport. 25 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
- ^ "Speler: Anwar El-Ghazi". OnsOranje. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
- ^ "El Ghazi in line for Netherlands debut". Soccerway. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
- ^ "Anwar El Ghazi Socceway Profile". Retrieved 14 January 2017.
External links
- Netherlands U17 stats at OnsOranje
- Netherlands U18 stats at OnsOranje
- 1995 births
- Living people
- Dutch footballers
- AFC Ajax players
- Lille OSC players
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- Eredivisie players
- Ligue 1 players
- Premier League players
- People from Barendrecht
- Dutch people of Moroccan descent
- Dutch expatriates in France
- Dutch expatriates in England
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Association football wingers
- BVV Barendrecht players
- Netherlands youth international footballers
- Netherlands under-21 international footballers
- Netherlands international footballers