BILAL EL KHANNOUSS: WHO ARE YOU?

Recent reports have claimed that Sunderland have a long-standing interest in attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss from Leicester City following their relegation back to the Championship. The 21-year-old has expressed his desire to play in the top flight rather than the second tier. Here is some information as to who exactly he is.

Born in Belgium to Moroccan descent (just like our new signing Chemsdine Talbi) in May 2004, he began his youth level with Anderlecht before moving to Genk in 2019. At this time, Bilal was involved in the Belgian international youth project but soon switched his allegiance to Morocco to represent their Under-20 team. His talent at youth level culminated in his first professional contract with Genk being agreed on July 24th, 2020.

His time in on Genk’s books eventually led to his debut on May 21st, 2022, in a 0-0 draw against KV Mechelen. Spending two full seasons with the club, he managed one goal and five assists during 41 games in his first campaign with a further three goals and eight assists in his second across 51 games, where he also featured in Champions, Europa and Europa Conference League matches.

It was at this point where Leicester coughed up a reported fee of £21M to sign him on August 29th 2024. Across his first season with the Foxes he mustered up three goals and five assists, with his debut coming two days after his signing in a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa and his first goal coming months later against West Ham on December 3rd in which they won 3-1, their first victory in six matches and a rare three points in a depressing season.

Despite his efforts Leicester fell short and ended up with an extremely unfortunate run of winless games in which they failed to score in their home ground for almost six months. Since their relegation was confirmed back in April, the Moroccan has apparently shown a lack of desire to play in the Championship, believing he can deliver for a better quality side in the Premier League. Seen by many as the standout player amongst the side that finished 18th, the Mackems have reportedly been keeping tabs on the playmaker for a while and could make a move for him, having made six signings so far already.

On the international stage El Khannouss has shone already, being named in the 2022 Morocco squad that exceeded all expectations at the Qatar World Cup. Despite not featuring in the sides that beat European giants like Spain and Portugal on their run to the semi-finals he did eventually make his international debut in the third-place playoff match against Croatia for 56 minutes but lost 2-1.

He prefers to mainly play in the attacking midfield role, drifting around the central areas of the pitch, but can also play on the left or drop a little deeper to dictate play. However, the likelihood is that he will feature for Morocco at the upcoming African Cup Of Nations which may create issues amongst our other new signings come December. Other than Enzo Le Fee, every single new face so far plays for a country which has qualified for AFCON!