Bilal El Khannouss: Leicester midfielder with ‘eyes in the back’ and ‘amazing feet’ showing the quality of the star in distress | Football news

Leicester faced Brentford on Friday, aiming for only the third win in the 12th Premier League match under Ruud Van Niskolrooy. No player is more important for their hopes that they will get it from Bilal El Khannouss.

The 20-year-old midfielder, signing £ 21m from Genk in August, was one of the few positive results in a bad season for the club, starting with every game since Van Nistelrooy inherited Steve Cooper in November and showed the quality of the star in trouble. The threat of falling out, but his own future at the top looks safe.

It was vital for two victories in the Leicester in the Premier League under the new boss. El Khannouss set the Jamie Vardy opener and scored a second goal in 3-1 Win over West Ham In his first game. The winner hit the last month 2-1 triumph on Spurs.

Both of his targets in these games, along with his sublime, out of strike Leicester’s Loss Carabao Cup by Manchester United In October, they moved to the style of his famous coaches in Genko, where his little ones were left to his little ones.

“We fired a lot with him. Not shooting with power, but always going to corners,” says Miguel Ribeiro, GenK’s first team of technical and individual coaches, says he says Sky Sports.

That precision now shines in his game. El Khannouss is also happy to watch the joy to work, according to Ribeir, who says that his positive impact in the Premier League, after collecting almost 100 senior appearances for Genk, is not surprising.

“I always thought he would adapt very soon when he got the opportunity because he did it in Genko. From the first moment he trained with the first team it was clear. Maybe he had to make some steps physically because he had 17 or 18 but 18 football was easy for him. “

The Belgian Club has a reputation of nurturing a young talent developed by Kevin de Bruyne, Leandro Trossard and many others.

They have similar hopes for El Khannouss.

“We took him when he was 14 from Anderlecht, where they didn’t believe it as much as we did,” Ribeiro says. “He was a tiny, gentle boy at that age, very thin. But he had amazing feet and a great vision, and he was always hungry to learn and do additional things.

“The way you see him playing for Leicester is the way he trained here with us. Always happy, with a big smile, he works hard. Of course he needs his coach’s confidence, but I think he got it with Van Nonelrooy, becoming a starter.

After starting only four games out of a possible 15 under Cooper, El Khannouss was one of two comprehensive in accordance with Van Nisklroooy along with James Justin. Leicester’s results were bad. But El Khannouss is not just in their rare victories.

Arsenal was silent last time, but in December he looked at home against top opposition in defeat of Manchester City of 2-0 in December, during which he made twice as many dribbling from any other player and ranked to the top of the duel, and the last third passes. Again he was great at a recent loss of FA Cup from Manchester United.

These were prominent performances by Morocco International, who has 18 caps for his country, but his fast shop and a technical class consistently delighted supporters.

In a position somewhere between no. 10 and left no. 8, El Khannouss slides across the lawn, hitting the gaps in defense and trying to make things happen. He is Leicester’s spark. The supporters showed that they were highly evaluated when they encouraged the decision to take him at the beginning of last month of loss to Fulham.

“There is never a problem to play under pressure. It never hides,” Ribeiro adds. Were important features as a teenager in Genko; Now they are even more important, in the context of the Battle of Relegation in Leicester. “She’s not afraid to take the risk and almost always play forward,” Ribeiro continues. “Reveals that there could be spaces between the lines and the game very quickly.”

Genk was patient with his physical development – “we don’t push young guys to work too many gyms; we let them grow,” Ribeiro says – and instead sought to maximize his innate ability to read the game.

“I used to tell people that he had a look at his back, because he saw everything,” Ribeiro laughed. “When you look at him, you see that he always checks around him and looks over his shoulder.

“It’s something I talked to him when he started starting at the first team in Genko, that he should have been constantly checking his back. He calls him” scanning “, but, for me, it’s just a shoulder check to see where they saw where they were The spaces are.

“Again, the advice took very well.”

This work later ensured that El Khannouss was equipped for an increased speed of the Premier League. There was also a focus on how he received the ball. “We worked on fast turns, to immediately face the opponent’s goal and give ourselves more opportunities instead of just opening up on one side,” Ribeiro says

“If you turn to the end, you can give yourself five or six options for the next passage, using your left or right leg. You can now see that he becomes fantastically quickly on the ball, although he is not a short player.

Ribeiro describes the future of El Khannouss as “very, very bright,” and Van Nisklroooy sees it the same way. “I think you will see a lot more than him with his age and profile,” Leicester chief said earlier this month. “His potential is to be a top champions League player. He can go a long way.”

The next step, in the short term, is to increase your end product.

El Khannouss became key to Genk, twice winning the Best Young Player of the Belgian League. But his numbers were modest, although as a teenager, with four goals and 10 assists in 61 league appearances. The same is in Leicester, where he has two goals and one assist at 8pm so far.

To nurture a spike now in his productivity. In fact, their hopes in the Premier League can depend on it. But at just 20 years old and a great light on the combat team, El Khannouss already looks intended for big things.

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