El Ghazi is a twenty-one-year-old winger who is regarded as the hottest of hot prospects in European football. One of Ajax’s best players, he has previously been linked with English clubs such as Newcastle United, Leicester City and Liverpool, as well as Italian giants AC Milan, although he has said that Real Madrid is his “dream club”.
With Roberto Di Matteo now in post, the Italian will be aware of the need to add attacking threat to the Villa squad as he prepares for life in the Championship.
Questionable as they may be, reports yesterday that Dutch winger El Ghazi may be stepping down from the Champions League to join Championship-bound Aston Villa have certainly given fans something to talk about.
Signed by Ajax in 2013, he was earmarked for the club’s reserve side, Jong Ajax, but made his mark with eight goals in the pre-season games ahead of the 2014-15 season and made his debut on the opening day of that season. He has since played a further fifty-seven times for Ajax, scoring twenty goals along the way and providing assists almost as readily.
An offensive player, El Ghazi is not afraid to run at opposition defenders and his dribbling ability makes him stand out from the crowd. Standing at six foot two, and having scored eleven goals in the 2015-16 season for Ajax, he has proven to be a real threat in the final third. He can also score from distance, as seen on the opening day of the 2015-16 season:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZpueb1GIeA
El Ghazi’s pace and remarkable ball control make life difficult for defenders. An increasingly assured player, he has the confidence to take defenders to the by-line or to cut in from the flanks.
Having opted to play for Holland on the advice of his idol Cristiano Ronaldo and having impressed Danny Blind, El Ghazi was called up to the Dutch senior side and earned two international caps during the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign that ended in failure for the Oranje.
He has also earned great respect from Ronald De Boer, who has said: “El Ghazi is dangerous even when he is not in good form. He is always near goal at decisive moments; the ball often seems to fall at his feet.”
An electrifying winger who will no doubt impress on the international stage before long, El Ghazi would be a cracking, if unlikely, addition to the Aston Villa squad as Roberto Di Matteo seeks to take “Aston Villa back to its rightful place”.
