Latest news with #BilalElKhannouss
Morocco World
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
Bilal El Khannouss on Wolves Radar to Replace Cunha
Wolverhampton Wanderers are eyeing Leicester City's Bilal El Khannouss as a priority signing this summer under Vítor Pereira. With Brazilian forward Matheus Cunha tipped for a move to Manchester United, Wolves are already planning for life without their main creative outlet. According to GiveMeSport , Pereira believes El Khannouss would be the perfect addition to fill the creative void in the final third. The 21-year-old has caught the eye with a strong season at Leicester, despite the club's relegation. In 36 games he played this season, El Khannouss scored 3 goals and provided 6 assists. But these stats do not give the full picture. The Moroccan is intelligent on the ball and has great decision-making and vision, which has earned him praise from scouts, with football talent spotter Jacek Kulig describing him as 'outstanding'. Wolves have already moved to strengthen the defence with the $22m signing of Emmanuel Agbadou from Reims in January. The focus now shifts to midfield. Leicester, however, are playing hardball. The Foxes won't entertain offers below $30m, and see El Khannouss as one of their key assets for an immediate push back to the Premier League. Wolves may soon submit a formal bid to test their resolve, but they're not alone. Arsenal have also been monitoring the situation closely, with Mikel Arteta reportedly an admirer of the budding playmaker's style and temperament. Tags: Atlas LionsBilal El KhannoussLeicesterWolves
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Negotiations ongoing: Arsenal willing to submit offer for €30m star from relegated club
Arsenal are reportedly keen on securing the services of the Leicester City midfielder Bilal El Khannouss. The 20-year-old midfielder has done quite well for Leicester this season, and he is unlikely to play in the Championship next season. According to Fichajes, Arsenal are looking to sign the talented young Moroccan midfielder, and he could cost around €30 million. Advertisement The 20-year-old midfielder is likely to be attracted to the idea of joining Arsenal this summer. They are among the biggest clubs in the country, and they could provide him with the platform to fight for trophies regularly. The 20-year-old is too good for the Championship, and he will not want to head to the second division of English football with the Foxes. Meanwhile, Leicester are likely to be tempted if a €30 million offer is submitted. Arsenal will certainly have the finances to get the deal across the line, and it remains to be seen whether they can get the deal done. The reported asking price could prove to be a bargain for a player of his potential. Bilal El Khannouss would be useful for Arsenal Bilal El Khannouss of Leicester City controls the ball. (Photo by) They need to add more quality and depth in the middle of the park. The talented young midfielder will add technical ability, craft, and composure to the side. Advertisement Arsenal have done well to groom talented young players in recent years, and they could play a key role in the development of El Khannou\s as well. Regular football at a high level could help the youngster improve further and fulfil his tremendous potential. The Moroccan is capable of operating as the central attacking midfielder, a central midfielder, as well as a wide player. He has three goals and five assists to his name this season. He could prove to be a very useful acquisition for Arsenal in the long term.
Morocco World
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
El Khannouss Draws Arsenal Interest as Leicester Braces for Summer Exodus
Arsenal are weighing a $35m move for Leicester City midfielder Bilal El Khannouss, as the relegated Foxes brace for a summer of departures following their dramatic drop to the Championship. The 20-year-old Moroccan has enjoyed a breakout campaign in his debut Premier League season, featuring in 34 matches, scoring three goals and providing five assists. Signed from Genk last summer for $25m, El Khannouss has impressed with his vision, technique and composure under pressure – traits that have reportedly caught Arsenal's eye. El Khannouss's future, like that of many of his teammates, is now uncertain following Leicester's confirmed relegation. With finances tight and a rebuild imminent, the club may be forced to sell key assets, and the Moroccan playmaker is among the most valuable, but he is not alone on the transfer list. Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi is expected to depart after his £9m relegation release clause was triggered. Forward Patson Daka, who failed to replicate his Salzburg form in England, is being courted by Everton. Meanwhile, veteran Jamie Vardy has announced his exit after 13 years of service, and Harry Winks is also expected to move on. El Khannouss, under contract until 2028, would represent a long-term addition for Arsenal, who see him as a midfield investment for the future. Leicester, on the other hand, may have little choice but to cash in. Tags: ArsenalBilal El KhannoussEnglish Premier LeagueLeicester
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Acquiescence trumps apocalypse as Leicester's demise is confirmed
Bilal El Khannouss looks dejected at the final whistle. Photograph: Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock The sky, bible black, was rent by lightning. Great belches of thunder reverberated around the East Midlands. Rain thudded from the sky as the angels, overcome, could not contain themselves and, in sympathy with despairing fans in the stands, sobbed in torrents. The gods were distraught, the heavens trembled. Demons and witches wrestled in the moonlit sky. In Loughborough and Kettering, doves set themselves against eagles while, all across the Market Harborough area, horses turned and ate themselves. Advertisement Or at least that's how relegation is supposed to be. As it turned out, Leicester's return to the Championship was sealed on a pleasant spring afternoon in a game of almost no incident beyond the Trent Alexander-Arnold goal that took Liverpool to within three points of the title. The mood was of glum acquiescence. They have been nowhere near good enough to stay up this season and relegation has seemed distinctly probable since they lost 3-0 against Wolves three days before Christmas. Related: Leicester 0-1 Liverpool: Premier League – Foxes relegated – as it happened The hunting horn and flame machines are of questionable benefit at the best of times but to herald a probable relegation they felt almost distasteful. The more fitting buildup perhaps came from the plane that flew over the stadium before kick-off, dragging behind it a banner on which was printed: 'King Power clueless, sack the board.' Imagine how bad it might have been if they hadn't pushed PSR to the limit and avoided sanction only by slithering between the jurisdictions of the Premier League and Championship. There were boos at the final whistle, and a banner unveiled complaining about two relegations in three years, but it all seemed a little perfunctory. Plenty of the Leicester crowd hung back to applaud Liverpool; it might be a while before they get to see Premier League champions in the flesh again. This has been coming for too long for fans not to have mentally adjusted to the reality. Advertisement Leicester weren't in the bottom three when Steve Cooper was sacked, but given the negativity around the club at the time, it would be misleading to suggest it would have been much different had he stayed. Whether a better replacement could have been found than Ruud van Nistelrooy is another question. As a striker for Manchester United, he scored a league goal every 128 minutes. Under his management, Leicester have scored a league goal every 164 minutes and they have the second-worst defensive record in the division. Chants of 'Going down,' from the Liverpool fans, perhaps bored in the near silence and aware that the tension had been taken out of the game by Arsenal's 4-0 win at Ipswich earlier in the afternoon, felt gratuitous. Of course they're going down; they're terrible. It's like mocking a tortoise for not winning a 100m gold. Perhaps Leicester aren't as bad as Southampton, but they are an integral member of the worst bottom three in Premier League history. When the promoted three are being relegated en masse in consecutive seasons, when they're barely able been to put up a fight, it should, on the principle of that no club is an island, concern all of football. If the pyramid's a ziggurat, it isn't really fit for purpose. It wouldn't be fair to say that nothing happened, given the woodwork was struck five times but, as in Liverpool's deceptively dramatic win over West Ham last week, there was a strange sense of futility about the whole occasion. Nothing quite had the snap of intensity of the midweek European games; it was all a little mannered and three-quarter-paced. There was a profound awareness that none of it mattered, that greater forces had shaped the narrative beyond the scope of individuals to affect. Advertisement Midway through the second half, Conor Coady did hook the ball over the line, prompting a strangled gurgle from the crowd. Nobody seemed quite certain how to react. There was definitely something you were supposed to do when you scored, but what was it? A celebratory roar, maybe? But what would that sound like? It just seemed so incongruous. Not the sort of thing you do at the King Power. Nobody quite had the confidence to give one a go. But no matter. The referee, Stuart Attwell, had seen that Patson Daka had shoved Alisson and the goal was – rightly – disallowed. The King Power Stadium lapsed back into its comfortable grumble. Leicester have now failed to scored in nine successive home league games. In that time, their fans could have watched stagings of King Lear, Hamlet and all three parts of Henry VI. One more game and the home league drought will be as long as Wagner's entire ring cycle, although lacking the lightness of touch and frivolity of the German master. When Bobby De Cordova-Reid struck that last home goal, a 91st-minute equaliser against Brighton, 133 days ago, Bashar al Assad was just being toppled as leader of Syria. Gary O'Neil was still manager of Wolves and Russell Martin was still at Southampton. Joe Biden was still president of the United States and Saudi Arabia hadn't been formally confirmed as the host of the 2034 World Cup. The world was a very different place then, but Leicester were doomed just as surely.
Associated Press
08-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
By The Numbers: How this might be the weakest bottom three in Premier League history
It seems like it's never been harder for promoted teams to stay in the Premier League. It looks fairly certain that the three promoted teams will be relegated to the Championship after just one season for the second straight year. That's never previously happened in the Premier League era (since 1992). Last season, it was Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton. This season, Southampton's relegation has already been confirmed — in record fashion — while Leicester and Ipswich are so far adrift of safety that they have little chance of surviving. Ipswich, in third-to-last place, is 12 points behind fourth-to-last Wolverhampton with seven games remaining. The combined points tally of Southampton (10), Leicester (17) and Ipswich (20) would barely get them into mid-table, backing up a growing argument that this might be the weakest crop of promoted teams the Premier League has ever seen. Here's a by-the-numbers look at how bad their seasons have been: Southampton 3 7 The Saints were relegated with seven games remaining, and that's a record. No team has ever been confirmed to go down with seven or more games to play, according to stats supplier Opta. 10 The number of points Southampton has. The race is on to beat the lowest points tally ever by a team in the Premier League era: Derby County's 11 from the 2007-08 season. 25 The number of losses by Southampton, in 31 games played. Leicester 8 Leicester's 3-0 defeat to Newcastle on Monday meant the team has lost eight straight home games in the league without scoring. That's never happened before in the top four divisions of English soccer. 11 Leicester has lost 11 homes games in a single league campaign for the first time. 72 It is now 72 days since Leicester scored — home or away — in the Premier League. The last player to hit the back of the net was Bilal El Khannouss against Tottenham on Jan. 26. Ipswich 6 Ipswich has been beaten in each of its last six homes game, the team's longest losing run at home since 1963. The latest was against Wolves, 2-1, on Saturday. 11 The number of home losses for Ipswich this season, from 16 games. 140 Ipswich spent about 109 million pounds ($140 million) to bring in 10 players in the summer transfer window. Only Brighton spent more in the Premier League. ___
