Pellegrino Linked With Alaves Defender
Sunday, 16th Jul 2017 10:39

Mauricio Pellegrino is apparently considering a move for one of his players at Alaves last season, find out who it is here.

The player in question is central defender Zouhair Feddal who apparently has a buy out clause at only £2.6 million.

The Morrocan International played regularly under Pellegrino last season and is attracting interest from Valencia and Real Betis in Spain and reportably Newcastle and Brighton in England.

At 6ft 3 tall, Zou as he is known can play either in the centre of defence or left back, however his career has taken a while to take off and now 27 prior to 2015/16 season he had little truly top flight experience, having played for a plethora of clubs in Italy in both Serie A & B he signed for Levante and a decent season in La Liga led to another move last summer to Alaves under Mauricio Pellegrino.

Another solid season has prompted speculation that he could now move to either a better club in Spain of too the Premier League with the connection to Pellegrino making Saints firm favourites to sign him.

Feddal who has played 13 times for Morocco is described as a player who can read the game well and get his side out of danger with timely interceptions.

Although he might not be the big money sgning that Saints fans crave, the fact is that the price quoted is his release clause of 3 million euros, with other clubs in the frame that price could be pushed up, although this could be a very good signing if his reputation from last season is as good as being touted.

Older Saints fans will remember another Moroccan central defender Tahar El Khalej who was signed by Glenn Hoddle for £350k in March 2000.

Unfortunately by then El Khalej was approaching 32 and at the end of what had not been an illustrious career to start with, although he could put in some good performances at times he could also be very erratic and played 58 Premier League games for the club before leaving in the January of 2003 initially to Charlton on a six month loan till his contract was up, he did not play much at the Valley and decided to retire at the end of that season.

One of his more notable moments was on the final day of the first season at St Mary's against Newcastle on 12 May 2002, where he made a reckless lunge on Kieron Dyer , which earned him a straight red card. Dyer threatened Tahar with legal action if he missed the 2002 World Cup, however the damage was not as bad as first feared and he was able to play in the tournament and therefore the threatened action did not happen.

Photo: Action Images

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highfield49 added 11:07 - Jul 16

Could be a very good signing if the manager is confident in his ability but, if there is any substance in this rumour, surely Yoshi must be vulnerable to make way. The reason I say that is because this guy apparently reads the game well and I've always seen that as one of Yoshi's weaker areas. Unsurprisingly maybe we're hotly linked today with Gibbs from Arsenal which raises inevitable questions about Bertrand and VVD being on their way out of the club. Media speculation does nothing to calm the supporters pre-season anguish! Roll on Swansea, with our top players all in the starting line up.

luffy22 added 14:38 - Jul 16

Funny how things are remembered isn't it.

That lunging tackle was quite poor, but seen yellow cards issued for such stuff as well. The lunge was bad but Dyer made the most of it, the lad could run very fast, deceivingly so, I think Tahar was just caught out by the pace and that made it a lot worse, dyer rolled about about a 1/4 of the pitch and then cried like a little girl to anyone in ear shot for the next couple of weeks. That same challenge on most players would just end up with a small trip and no damage done. As it was Dyer wasn't hurt anyway, plus he over rated himself was no where near as good as he thought he was, suing other players, what a caunt.

As for Tahar, he scored a couple for us, as you say put in a few great performances, but how I remember him was the day we all wore fezzes and bought Kazoo's to the game. a much better way to remember him.