Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 11:53 AM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 12:02

Tarik Tissoudali never really managed to break through in the Netherlands, although the now 27-year-old wing attacker has not always been to blame for this. In an extensive interview with The last news AA Gent’s winger looks back on his early years as a football player, when the chairman of the amateur association Young Boys thrust a transfer to FC Groningen through the nose.

“When I was eighteen I played for Young Boys, when FC Groningen came knocking. That was quite a tough story”, Tissoudali sighs when he thinks back to the failed deal with the Pride of the North. The attacker gave his calling card at the time with three goals and an assist in a practice match against the Groningen amateur club Be Quick. However, an actual conversation with the technical management of Groningen never got off the ground. “Our chairman had said that it was no use, because I was going to choose Ajax or Utrecht. But I had never heard anything from Ajax or Utrecht.”

“Our chairman said he was busy with Ajax and Utrecht, blah blah blah. I also wanted to go to Groningen, but when we called them, they had meanwhile hired another player. I was so disappointed. I immediately unsubscribed from Young Boys”, continues Tissoudali, who made the switch from Beerschot to Ghent in the final phase of the most recent transfer period. The career of the winger could therefore have turned out differently, if the step to Groningen had indeed come about. “Yes, exactly. But I have had enough friends who played young at a professional club and who now no longer have a club at all. Everything has a reason.”

Tissoudali then took his first steps in professional football at Telstar, followed by adventures at SC Cambuur, VVV-Venlo and De Graafschap. In between there was a short trip to Le Havre, although the attacker did not play in France. In 2018, Tissoudali got a new chance at Beerschot for an adventure across the border. He could have also opted for Fiorentina or DC United in the winter break, but it was Ghent that ultimately managed to bind him to the club until mid-2023.