The Eredivisie has had plenty of notable players since its founding in 1956. Every player has their own story. Over the years, there have been many players in the Dutch league from whom much was expected, but who failed to deliver. Football zone delves into the history of missed opportunities. This time the story of Adam Maher, the midfielder who was named talent of the year in 2012.

By: Lars Verhage

There is a great mood in the AFAS Stadium. The fans loudly chant the name of Kolbeinn Sightórsson, who had already decided the match against the Belarusian FK Bate Borisov with two goals. Not that AZ is still playing for anything, because it has already been eliminated from this edition of the Europa League.

Still, after more than 45 minutes of football, there is room for further excitement in the stadium. Just before the Icelandic striker scores his second goal, the assist in the name of current coach Maarten Martens, a youngster makes his official debut in the AZ shirt. A lot is expected of the seventeen-year-old boy. The talent replaces the tired Pontus Wernbloom, who also already has a yellow card in his pocket. His name? Adam Maher.

On that particular December evening in 2010, the seventeen-year-old must have felt like the protagonist of a boys' football fairy tale. The very young debutant immediately got the audience on the benches. They bounce back en masse when the Moroccan Dutchman provides the final score in minute 86: 3-0. A dream debut.

This is how the AZ people leave the European theater of war – with their heads slightly held high. Maher has handed over his business card. Two years later he was named talent of the year in the Eredivisie. Trainer Gertjan Verbeek is full of praise for his pupil and expects him to be able to show very nice things. Nothing turns out to be further from the truth.

Gem

After his birth in Morocco, Maher grew up in North Holland. He started playing football at a young age, first at SV Diemen and later at Zeeburgia. The talent is oozing and AZ's scouts noticed this early on. The right foot is eleven years old when he joins the youth academy of the Alkmaarders. Here he quickly manages to convince. It is observed with amazement how the boy has an astonishing technique.

His performance also stands out in the Dutch team. From a young age, talent can be found in the youth teams of the Dutch national team. He often manages to excel in this. The noise around the midfielder is also becoming more and more positive. They think it is almost inevitable that this will be a very big one. After leaving an excellent impression with the Dutch Under 17s, Maher is getting closer to a debut in AZ's main squad. That dream debut will be there on December 15, 2010, in the Europa League against Bate Borisov.

The following year, during the 2011/12 season, the technically skilled broke ten definitively. Despite his very young age (Maher is still only eighteen), the right-footer plays every competition match for AZ. He really excels in that. His fine technique and beautiful through passes reveal that this is not just any talent.

A wonderful goal against Peter Bosz's Heracles is indicative of the grace with which Maher plays football. He is the jewel of the club and is named talent of the year in the Eredivisie at the end of the season.

Maher had great successes with AZ in the 2012/13 season. The delicate midfielder leads his team to the KNVB Cup final. In this he would once again showcase his skills. With a goal he guided the Alkmaarders past PSV and to the fourth cup win in club history.

His excellent form stands out. National coach Bert van Marwijk cannot actually ignore the midfielder and grants the youngster – together with Luciano Narsingh – his unofficial debut in the Dutch national team, in a friendly match against Bayern Munich. After a disappointing European Championship, with zero points in a Group of Death with Germany, Portugal and Denmark – and therefore elimination, Van Marwijk handed in his resignation.

His successor, Louis van Gaal, officially made Maher's debut about four months later. During a practice match in and against Belgium (4-2 loss), he was part of five Dutch debutants together with Stefan de Vrij, Bruno Martins Indi, Nick Viergever and Ricardo van Rhijn. Substitutions in Hungary (1-4 win) and against Romania follow, a starting spot against Italy (1-1) is a fact, and in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra Maher signs for his first and only assist for the Dutch team shortly afterwards.

Adam Maher played five official matches for the Dutch national team.

After his five appearances for the national team, the gem Maher appears to be untenable for AZ. In the summer of 2013, PSV announced that it was taking over the top talent from the Alkmaar team. The people of Eindhoven pay around eight million euros. Expectations are sky-high in Brabant. Maher will take over the shirt number 6 from Mark van Bommel, who has just hung up his football boots for good, and is seen as his successor.

Difficult

His first season at the club is difficult. Maher seems to be losing the competition in midfield to Jorrit Hendrix. The frivolity of the former AZ player also appears to be lacking at PSV. Trainer Phillip Cocu tries everything with Maher. While at AZ he mainly performed – and excelled – as a 10 and as an 8, the midfielder in Eindhoven sometimes also hangs on the left.

This turns out not to be his best position, making his first season at the club disappointing. Maher thrives best in a game system with two controllers – and he as 10, as at AZ – but Cocu opts for a different midfield layout, often with Georgino Wijnaldum and Anders Guardado in the axis.

Maher's time at PSV did not turn out to be an unqualified success.

Maher fared much better in his second year in Eindhoven's service. The attacking midfielder shows his AZ form again at times. He also won the national title, partly thanks to his seven goals and five assists. That also happens the following year, but the midfielder himself has little influence on this. He hardly plays, partly due to the arrival of Davy Pröpper and Marco van Ginkel.

In the summer the best solution for both parties is sought and it is ultimately found. During the 2016/17 season, Maher will be loaned to Turkish side Osmanlispor. He participates in all competitions, but there is little evidence of the Maher of old.

Shirt swap

PSV decides to terminate the contract of the former top talent, after which the midfielder visits his old trainer Gertjan Verbeek at FC Twente. This marriage was very successful at AZ, but not at all with the Tukkers. In the years that followed, Maher still wore out quite a few shifts. A second employment contract with AZ should bring light at the end of the tunnel for the right winger, but after a few bad years this turns out not to be what was hoped for.

This was followed by a domestic transfer to FC Utrecht, where Maher showed great things again at times. He is able to perform reasonably well in a slightly more controlling role in midfield, but he is no longer the playful, uninhibited seventeen-year-old boy.

Nevertheless, Maher completed three seasons in the cathedral city, after which he accepted a lucrative offer from the Middle East in 2022. The former international leaves for the Saudi Arabian Damac FC.

“I had seen the Eredivisie,” Maher said at the time about his switch Football zone. “I played in the Netherlands for a long time and was ready for a new foreign adventure. I also loved that year on loan at Osmanlispor in Turkey. I then had a good conversation with the Damac club management and made the decision fairly quickly.â€

The switch brought him a lot of criticism. That doesn't bother Maher, who speaks the Arabic language. “It is always easy to judge from the outside. People have something to say about every choice you make in life. As a footballer you can basically never do well. I didn't have to think long about this transfer, because I know it is a good step for me and my family.â€

At Damac, Maher does not always play against inappropriate opponents. “I am on the field with players I would otherwise never have met,” he said during his time at Damac. In Cristiano Ronaldo he met someone who he would most likely not have encountered in the Eredivisie, because Maher could also go there.

Maher now lives in Qatar, at Al-Wakrah SC. Damac loaned the now thirty-year-old midfielder to that team at the end of January. He played 87 minutes in two matches. In the past two matches, Maher remained on the bench for ninety minutes. And so, despite a shirt swap – or well, a one-sided transaction – with Ronaldo, Maher's career seems to be extinguished like a night candle.

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