Is the Tunisian Rock on his way to the Boleyn Ground?
- by Charlie Clark
- Filed: Saturday, 27th June 2015
Is Aymen Abdennour the best defender in Europe? This was the question evoked by French magazine SoFoot, after Monaco narrowly lost out to Juventus in last season's Champions League quarter finals.
Juventus of course, made it to the finals, before eventually being outgunned by a Barcelona team who are arguably the best in the world.At 6'2” and over 13 stone, it's small wonder that he has been dubbed 'le roc tunisian' - the Tunisian Rock. The Toulouse public knew little of the player plucked from l'etoile de Sahel in Tunisia in 2011 for a mere €400,000 (£280,000), but after his very first match they were already raving about how his performance had been among the few positives from their pre-season friendly against a technically competent Benfica.
After his first full season in France, he had firmly established his reputation as a hard-working, explosive and uncompromising central defender.
He went on to play 77 matches in Ligue 1, for Toulouse, before moving on to what was Ranieri's Monaco, the newly rich team from the principality, in the January 2014 transfer window for €15million (£10.5million).
His start to his time in Monaco, was less glorious, as is often the case when a player has already become a known quantity, and comes in for a large fee. Think Andy Carroll and his beginnings, coming onto the scene for his home town club, compared with being thrust under the spotlight since, after all that money has exchanged hands for him! Getting injured shortly after his arrival didn't help, and he frustratingly for everyone involved, he finished up making it onto the field for only 6 matches that season.
This past season (2014-2015), with the new management in charge, after Monaco lost their opening two matches, Abdennour was one of the players sacrificed. With a hectic schedule, between league, cup and Champions League matches, he was nevertheless counted upon, and over the course of the season he went on to make 18 league appearances for his new team, and 30 in all competitions.
"le roc tunisian"
He achieved all this despite being out injured for six weeks with a thigh injury and having such stiff competition for the central defensive role, with Carvalho and Raggi. It should be noted that Monaco went through the season with the best defensive record in Ligue 1.
The Tunisian colossus really caught the eye throughout the team's Champions League campaign, during which they famously beat Arsenal 3-1, at the Emirates, despite having a far different return leg back in France.
He also played two very impressive games against Juventus, in which only one goal was scored over 180 minutes of football. He then went on to score the winning header against Zenith Saint Petersburg, which pushed them over the line and allowed them to finish top of their group.
When interviewed after the match against his old club Toulouse, in May of this year, the interviewer alluded to the fact that people saw no one but him, that he was everywhere at the moment. Abdennour smiled and stated that he is always available when approached, that that was part of his job.
The interviewer, seemingly unwilling to let him get away with such a modest response, followed up, insisting that his exposure was perhaps also down to his performance on the pitch. Again, Abdennour deflected the attention and stated that his good form was simply thanks to hard work, discipline and having the chance to play alongside players such as Carvalho, Raggi and Toulalan.
Interestingly enough, during the same interview, the interviewer mentioned that Abdennour had never hidden his desire to play in England. His response: “The truth. Every weekend it's intense. We play football for these moments.” With his muscular stature, he would certainly have no problem with the physical side of the British game and a number of teams have been hovering if the press is to believed.
According to the French press, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan and Southampton have all been credited with interest; the Italian press cite Roma, Inter Milan and Napoli, and in the UK, teams such as Liverpool, and Newcastle have been mentioned along with West Ham of course.
According to ESPN's David Amoyal, West Ham are said to be leading the race for the player's signature and are willing to pay up to €18m Euros (£12.5million).
Toulouse's manager Dominque Arribagé, who was behind his initial recruitment from North Africa, suggested that he presently has few equals in European football today. With the capture of Dimitri Payet still fresh and the desire to make that step up and get the big boys looking over their shoulder, this is the sort of player that could help us do just that!
The obligatory YouTube selection
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