Moroccan international winger Oussama Assaidi has had his loan spell at Stoke City cut short ahead of a permanent move to the Middle East…
The curious Liverpool career of Oussama Assaidi appears to be nearing an end after the club accepted a £4.7m offer from Dubai-based club Al-Ahli.
Assaidi had been on a second consecutive season-long loan at Stoke City but that has now been terminated so the proposed permanent move to the Middle East can go through.
The 26-year-old arrived at Anfield from SC Heerenveen in the summer of 2012, shortly after Brendan Rodgers had entered the Kop dugout following Kenny Dalglish‘s sacking.
A relative unknown, Assaidi cost Liverpool just £2.4m, meaning they will almost double their money on a player who made just 12 appearances for the club.
That he featured so sparingly after arriving was strange at the time given the way the team was struggling and the positive noises that surrounded the player.
Rodgers told Liverpoolfc.com shortly after Assaidi’s arrival: “He’s an exciting player – someone who can take people on. He gets crosses in and has got an end product.
“That’s important because I like players at the top end of the field who have that invention, fight and ability to score goals.
“He’s good on one v ones and is a technical player who is strong and uses his body well.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him play.”
Undeterred, Assaidi showed flashes of true ability during the 2013-14 season while on-loan at fellow Premier League side Stoke.
There, despite some injury issues, he featured 25 times, scoring five goals.
Such was his impact, the Potters were interested in making the switch permanent over the summer but, after bulking at Liverpool’s reported £7m asking price, they eventually settled for another loan spell.
The present campaign hasn’t proved quite as fruitful for either party though with 11 appearances, mainly from the bench, not yielding a single goal.
Confirming the termination of Assaidi’s temporary deal at the Britannia on Sunday, Stoke boss Mark Hughes said: “Ossie has been frustrated this season because I haven`t been able to give him as much game time as he would have liked.
“He was a player we liked but he has found it difficult to force his way into the team over the past couple of months.
“As a consequence of that Liverpool requested to recall him, which we have accepted, after receiving an offer from a side in the Middle East.
“It frees up a loan opportunity for us and obviously we will look to utilise that before the end of the month.”
The departure of Assaidi follows news that both captain Steven Gerrard and talented Spaniard Suso will also be leaving Merseyside when their contracts expire in the summer.
Vital Verdict
Assaidi has been a very strange acquisition by Liverpool and one wonders, especially with the divisive workings of the club’s much-discussed transfer committee now common knowledge, exactly who was responsible for the purchase? For the bulk of his debut season Assaidi was the invisible man, despite producing a few promising cameos that had many fans calling for greater first team exposure. Fortunately, unlike many other failed buys over the past few years, the Reds will at least be pocketing a few quid when cutting their ties with the player. The Reds are hardly short of attacking midfield options so he certainly won’t be missed, although that’s hard to state categorically as Assaidi was never really given a chance to arrive.
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