To round off our summer transfer window and deadline day we signed 21 year old Adil Aouchiche, but who is he?
INTERNATIONAL ACCOLADES
He was born on the 15th July 2002 in Le Blanc-Mesnil in the footballing talent hotspot that is Paris. Adil has both French and Algerian citizenship and therefore is eligible to play for both countries, but so far he has represented his country of birth at U16, U17, U18 and U20 levels. So far he has earned an impressive 48 caps and an equally impressive 21 goals across all age groups, 14 of which came at U17 level. He has a bronze medal from the U17 2019 World Cup (in a tournament where he featured alongside our other new signing Pembélé) and also came away from the tournament with the silver ball. He also impressed heavily at the U17 Euros in the same year, becoming the top goal scorer and featuring in the team of the tournament. He scored three goals in one match and a hat trick in another. To cap off his impressive outings for France’s youth teams he featured in the Maurice Revello Tournament Best XI in 2022.
CLUB CAREER
His club career is also notable, especially when you consider his age. Beginning his career in 2008 with Mitry Mory before moving to Tremblay FC in 2009 and then PSG in 2014. Making his professional debut in 2019 and scoring his first goal in 2020 (becoming PSG’s second youngest ever goal scorer) he only managed three appearances and one goal for the French giants before transferring permanently to Saint-Étienne also in 2020. Adil featured 77 times and netted twice, chipping in with 10 assists as well. His career would then find him making the switch to Lorient where he played 13 times, having an output of one goal and three assists. He also has a Ligue 1 winners’ medal and a Coupe de France to cap it all off.
PLAY-STYLE
He’s primarily an attacking midfielder but also can play on the left of midfield or slightly deeper as a more central midfielder. Reportedly his best quality is his dribbling.
WHY WE SIGNED HIM
We signed him as a long term successor to Alex Pritchard who is now 30 years old and coming to the end of his time at Sunderland. Aouchiche is nine years younger and comes with 81 appearances at top flight level in France so will serve us well if we end up in the Premier League. As well as this he has previous experience playing with Pembélé in France’s youth teams and will add squad depth/competition with Elliot Embleton going out on loan to Derby.
