Reported West Ham United target Bilal El Khannouss found himself getting the ‘Nathan Redmond treatment’ from Pep Guardiola after a Premier League clash between Leicester and Manchester City last season.
Shortly after Erling Haaland’s late strike clinched a nervy 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium in December, Guardiola made a beeline for a player whose guile and purpose from the number ten role had clearly made quite an impression on the visiting boss.
“[Guardiola] said he was impressed by my play,” El Khannouss told reporters, albeit while quick to point out that such a performance only scratched the surface of his true potential.
“I think it was my best performance since I’ve been here. But I’m not impressed.”
Clearly, the mercurial Moroccan’s harshest critic is, well, the mercurial Moroccan himself.
But while reports in his North African homeland claim that West Ham have hijacked Crystal Palace’s pursuit – Soccer 212 claim that Graham Potter’s side are now in ‘advanced negotiations’ – what can the London Stadium faithful expect from a man who could yet become their heftiest summer signing at £35 million?
Well, seven years after he went out of his way to give Southampton’s Nathan Redmond a piece of post-match advice, that El Khannouss is another Guardiola likes the look of should speak volumes about the technical qualities which would perhaps not look out of place in a sky blue shirt.
But what about the claret and blue of West Ham United?
West Ham United-linked Bilal El Khannouss has been likened to Luka Modric
Interestingly, stats site Fbref claim that the player who most closely resembles Bilal El Khannouss is none other than Mateus Fernandes.
Southampton ace Fernandes remains a priority at West Ham during the final few days of the window. But, if a deal cannot be reached after two failed bids, El Khannouss feels like a suitable alternative.
DataMB further highlight the similar skill sets of the recently-relegated duo. El Khannouss, though, produces superior averages in terms of progressive carries, dribbles completed, crosses, key passes and chances created. In short, the vast majority of the most important metrics.
Another comparison, made during his time in Belgian football with KRC Genk, paints an even prettier picture of a dainty yet dynamic playmaker with ample room for improvement at the age of just 21.
“For me, he is the player in the Belgian league who will have the greatest career,” Belgian football expert Filip Joos told Sporza just before El Khannouss joined Leicester last summer. “I don’t see anyone else better than him.
“He reminds me most of [Luka] Modric. That does not mean that he will reach that level. [The comparisons are] purely in terms of their styles.
“We have to enjoy him now because he will [soon] be gone from Belgium.”
Joos was certainly right about the last point. Whether those Modric comparisons prove to be equally prescient, only time will tell.
El Khannouss and Mads Hermansen shone when Leicester beat West Ham
Only a couple of weeks before El Khannouss caught Guardiola’s eye at the King Power, meanwhile, he assisted Leicester’s first and scored their second in a 3-1 victory over West Ham.
On a night when Mads Hermansen aced his Hammers audition – the goalkeeper made ten saves to lay the foundations for an eventual £18 million switch to East London – El Khannouss comfortably overshadowed Lucas Paqueta and Carlos Soler on the opposition side.
“We did a lot of shooting with him. Not shooting with power, but always going to the corners,” Michel Ribeiro, Genk’s first-team technical and individual coach, told Sky Sports after watching El Khannouss beat Lukasz Fabianski with the sort of finish he had spent so many hours honing back in Belgium.
“He [always] had unbelievable feet and great vision, and he was always hungry to learn and do extra stuff.
“He never has a problem to play under pressure. He never hides. He is not afraid to take risks and he almost always plays forward. He finds spaces between the lines and sees the game very fast.
“You can see that he turns fantastically fast on the ball, even though he is not a short player. People watch him do it now and say, ‘Wow’.
“But we have seen it for years.”
