The Kitchen Champion Division has been a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on the second level. Voetbalzone, the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, highlights one of these talents every week, this time focusing on Sabir Agougil, who has conquered a basic place at NAC Breda in recent weeks.
By Chris Meijer
Sabir Agougil is in the middle of an answer when he is interrupted. “Is that your agent?”, he is asked with a wink during the conversation. Agougil responds with a grin: “No, no, no.” In recent weeks, the agent of the twenty-year-old midfielder has undoubtedly been called a lot more often. In any case, by the club management of NAC Breda, who would like to extend his expiring contract. “I hear they want to continue with me,” Agougil agrees. “I’m not really into drawing at the moment, to be honest. That may sound weird, but I’m more into developing. In all respects, personally, mentally and football. Of course NAC shows confidence and I appreciate that, but it can go either way. NAC is a great club, so we’ll see at the end of the season.”
How different was Agougil’s situation a year ago. The youth product of NAC – which took him away from the amateurs of Unitas ’30 from Etten-Leur at the age of ten – took his first steps with the main force at the beginning of 2020 and was allowed to participate in the preparation last season. “But in the end Maurice Steijn didn’t see it in me. Actually, I was sent back to the Under 21 without explanation and I didn’t play a game there in the corona time for months. At that time I was never asked for training at the first, so I had to develop a bit with the Under 21. In the end I came out stronger, but I had to find my place again at the start of this season on the field and get the feel for the ball during the matches,” says Agougil. In what he himself calls a ‘messy year’, he says he was mentally through it for a while.
“Why am I not being asked for the first? Why am I not getting clarity from the club or from the trainers? I had to figure that out in my head myself. I talked a lot with my brothers, parents and friends last year.” Brother Oualid in particular is a good discussion partner in this respect, because Agougil also tries to help him the other way around. Ajax stole the now sixteen-year-old midfielder – international for the the Dutch Under 17 – from NAC’s youth academy in 2019. “I can give my brother everything, of course he also listens. Things I’ve done now, for example doing extra strength training and paying more attention to my diet. I try to tell him that this is very important and he is really working on it, also with the guidance from Ajax. He is one of the greatest talents of his class and it is nice that I can pass on things to him that I have done wrong, because of course I really want him to make it to Ajax 1.”
Oualid Agougil plays in Ajax Under 18 this season.
Agougil himself has now managed to get the first from NAC. “I knew before the start of the preparation that I would seize my chance. I had to wait for the right moment, so I just had to show the trainer what I can do and arrive as fit as possible. That paid off in the end”, says Agougil about the run-up to this season. Although he made his (basic) debut during the first half of the season, he was generally still on the bench. “In the first half of the season I already felt the confidence of the trainer. I showed it at practice and he told me to keep that line. At one point I was given the opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Now I hope to be able to keep it up like that.”
Since the start of this calendar year, trainer Edwin de Graaf has invariably cleared a base place for Agougil. What has worked in his favor is the fact that Thom Haye left for sc Heerenveen and no direct replacement was brought in. “Yes of course. I expected a new midfielder to be brought in. In the end they kept the midfield like this and brought in an attacker. I make my minutes, I am developing and I feel the confidence. Now I come across the level of Kitchen Champion Division, which you have to act fast. The trainer gives me confidence and it pays off. I have shown good things in my opinion. Of course I can bring more offensively, but defensively I stand my ground. I try to keep playing football from my job and hope to bring more for the team in the future.”
For the time being, Agougil played fifteen official matches in the first team of NAC Breda.
In the eyes of Agougil, is his return still his main point for improvement for the time being? “Yes, my return has to go up”, Agougil replies. At the same time, he points to the fact that in De Graaf’s team he usually plays as six or eight plays. In that controlling role, he generally does not get around much or in the penalty area. Agougil has had to develop in that respect. “At the beginning of the season I was still a player who really wanted to play an attacking role. So giving the final pass, dribbling with the ball: that’s how I always played in youth, in a free role. I now joined a team where the necessary boys are older and in which you have to listen, watch and learn. Then you notice that you have to start playing more businesslike from your tasks, in order to show yourself from there and to deliver returns.”
“I have developed enormously as a football player, purely because I now play against men. And because I feel the coach’s confidence, it makes it easier for me to play football. The trainer gives me a lot of confidence and lets me make the game. Sometimes I’m a little too young that I want to hit the ball too much. He then tells me to stay in control,” continues Agougil. If his stormy development continues, a phone call from the Moroccan national coach may soon follow. Agougil previously completed training internships with Morocco U17 and U23.
“It’s a completely different football culture. You will be picked up by taxi, everything is well arranged and the people recognize you. The training is of a high level. You are tackled and the boys are really tough, you can’t just pass them in the one-on-one duels. I hope to make it to the national team in the future. Look, I would prefer to play in the Dutch. But if the Dutch team doesn’t come, I’ll go for Morocco.” It’s future music. First, Agougil wants to ‘play all games, stay fit, deliver returns and become a complete footballer’ this season. And make it to the play-offs with NAC, the current number nine in the Kitchen Champion Division. “We have a good, stable squad, with enough qualities. So I am convinced that it will work.”
Name: Sabir Agougil
Date of birth: January 18, 2002
Club: NAC Breda
Position: midfielder
Strengths: insight, technique, passing
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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