Zakaria Labyad turns up at old club and fuels speculation about return


Tuesday, January 3, 2023 at 10:39 am• Tom Rofekamp • Last update: 10:45

Zakaria Labyad is completing the final phase of his rehabilitation at FC Utrecht, the Domstedelingen report on social media. The 29-year-old midfielder suffered a serious knee injury just before he ran out of his contract with Ajax and has been recovering ever since. To some extent, this is a repeat of what happened in 2017. Even then Labyad was without a club, and he even won a contract with Utrecht.

Although Labyad’s career at Ajax was never marked by success, his last season was the low point. The six-time Moroccan international only played for a total of 25 minutes and, to top it off, was seriously injured two months before the end of his contract. Labyad had to undergo surgery and then await months of rehabilitation. Now the end of it is in sight.

FC Utrecht, where Labyad was already active before his time at Ajax, reports on Tuesday that the playmaker will complete the last phase of his rehabilitation at the old nest. This will partly happen with the first selection and partly with Young FC Utrecht, which plays in the Kitchen Champion Division. This is how partial déjà vu occurs. In August 2016, Labyad’s former club Sporting Lisbon decided to terminate his contract, after which he joined Sportpark Zoudenbalch, the training complex of Utrecht, on a free transfer. The Domstedelingen became convinced and committed PSV’s youth product for two and a half years.

Labyad also made an impression in the Eredivisie. Erik ten Hag therefore decided to take him to Ajax at the end of the 2017/18 season, where he had been at the helm for six months. However, Ten Hag had better material at his disposal in Amsterdam, he judged, and Labyad almost immediately ended up on the second plan. The 2020/21 season was still his most successful, as he scored 29 matches, eight hits and five assists across all competitions. In total, the counter in Amsterdam stopped at 54 duels.