Op-Ed : Azzedine Ounahi gets back to obscurity

After his great performance at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Reuters published an article titled “Ounahi from obscurity to transfer target”. After almost 3 years, I am writing that Ounahi is back to obscurity.

“I was surprised by the number 8, I can’t remember his name, sorry. But oh my God! Where did that boy come from? He’s playing very well.. this boy hasn’t stopped running. We were talking about him in the technical room. Amazing.” Those were the words of former Spain coach Luis Enrique after the historic match that saw Morocco eliminate Spain in the round of-16 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

This statement comes from one of the greatest coaches in the history of football. A coach who has coached great stars such as Messi, Neymar, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and who has had a lasting influence on bringing out the best in these players. And then, he speaks with such enthusiasm about a Moroccan player, Azzedine Ounahi.

The international and Spanish press, in particular, praised the Morocco international’s abilities as a midfielder with a special vision of the pitch and an endless mobility that destabilised La Roja’s lines during that World Cup match… His stats are said to be unparalleled. In that game against Spain, Azzedine completed 42 passes (76% accuracy), created one scoring chance, made four tackles and won 7 out of 10 duels. Interestingly, he played 119 minutes of the game and was particularly instrumental in the second half of extra time.

Ounahi began his career early in Casablanca’s alleyways, then joined Raja Sporting Club at 10. He moved to the Mohamed VI Football Academy at 15, then left Morocco in 2018 for Club Strasbourg. Two years later, he joined Us Avranches, and in 2021, signed with Club Angers for four seasons. His outstanding performances earned him a call up for the 2022 World Cup.
After stellar performances in Qatar, international clubs competed for his signing. In January 2023, Olympique de Marseille acquired him for €10 million. In September 2023, he was loaned to Greek club Panathinaikos, where he’s on a season-long loan with an option to buy.

The Spanish newspaper ”Sport”, wrote in an article that Ounahi is in a downward spiral.

The question is, why a player who has been hailed by major newspapers and Luis Enrique has only had experiences that don’t live up to his talent?

To answer this question, we need to talk about the “development cycle” of a player. Growth begins with three stages: first, awareness of what needs to be improved; second, deliberate practice, focusing all the effort on what has to be improved. Third, habit, that is, with a lot of practice, the effort becomes automatic.

Despite his undoubted talent, Ounahi did not put in enough effort or practice to hone his skills. Some time after that World Cup performance, and after failing to sign for a big club, he began to blame himself: “Last season was complicated for me, I had an injury and some personal issues outside of football that affected me. I didn’t work hard enough and I accept that.”
Unfortunately, this is not just Azzeddine’s case, but that of other former Moroccan players such as Adel Taarabt, Oussama Saidi and Hicham Mastour, a great talent who killed himself because of the mentality that talent is everything, what is psychologically known as the ‘fixed mindset’.

No, talent is not everything. There are 2 things that are more important : deliberate practice and adopting a ”growth mindset”.

By deliberate practice, I mean purposeful and systematic practice. It is when you work on a skill that requires periodization to master. Once you master it, you can move on to the next skill to master. Repeat this process for 10,000 hours. This is Conscious Practice. Here are its 5 characteristics: 1) It’s designed to improve performance. 2) It’s repeated a lot 3.) Feedback on results is constantly available. 4) It’s mentally demanding. 5) It’s hard to do.

The best athletes practice deliberately. They know that consistency and self-discipline are crucial to achieving excellence, even when motivation wanes. and that’s what some Moroccan players lack, who have talent but no discipline.
The neurological argument for deliberate practice states that focussing intensely on a particular skill triggers the relevant circuit repeatedly. This triggers ”oligodendrocytes” to wrap myelin around the neurons, thereby cementing the skill.

Growth mindset means believing that abilities are like muscles, they can built up with practice. This mindset isn’t afraid of failure. Here I want to emphasize that seeking certainty and fear of failure are the enemy of growth.

The Mohammed VI Football Academy is designed to achieve specific goals: Identify young talent throughout the country, implement a physical education curriculum, and prepare aspiring soccer players for the professional leagues. But it has forgotten a much more important goal: to focus on instilling a “growth mindset” in young Moroccan talent, and to emphasize that the key to successful sports education is deliberate practice.

Luis Enrique spoke about him with astonishemenet, he was awarded the ”Order of the Throne in 2022” for his efforts with the Moroccan national team, and he has full Regragui’s unwavering confidence. But, Azzedine Ounahi still needs to practice purposely and adopt a growth mindset, then his signature for a big club will be a matter of time.

Talent alone is not sufficient. Players who persevere and work hard, rather than relying on talent alone, are the ones who succeed. Brahim Diaz and Achraf Hakimi are great examples to follow.