Youssef Maziz said goodbye at the Saint-Symphorien stadium on August 18 against Marseille (2-2). Replaced at the hour mark by Lamine Camara, the 25-year-old midfielder played his very last match with FC Metz that evening. It is therefore in Belgium, under the colors of OH Louvain, that the native of Thionville will now perform, in a Jupiler Pro League which he knows well, having played there with Seraing during the 2021-2022 season.
If this operation brings 1.6 million euros to FC Metz – according to our colleagues from The Team –, it will give a little taste of unfinished business to some garnet supporters. Because the kid from the Plaine de Jeux, turned pro in 2018, had finally managed to become a major player in his training club. An important player in the rise to Ligue 1 with 8 goals and 6 assists, Youssef Maziz also scored his first goal in the top flight, with an angry header, on August 13 in Rennes (5-1).
A surface fox
Paradoxically, the playmaker confirmed, during his only appearances with Metz this season, his strengths and weaknesses. In the last twenty meters, Maziz became a killer, the kind of player who doesn’t need three chances to score. Further down the field, however, the number 10 does not necessarily have the influence that one expects from a boy so comfortable with the ball. Midfielder training, Youssef Maziz could almost claim, in the long term, a role of surface fox.
Perhaps he will do it in Belgium, having already grown up away from Lorraine during his three loans. The first, in Avranches (2018-2019), had allowed him to cross a plateau. Author of a cannonball end of the championship in National, he had convinced FC Metz to exercise the two-year option which appeared in his contract. With Le Mans in Ligue 2 (2019-2020), the Thionvillois had confirmed his potential, despite a major injury and a season truncated by the Covid.
A few appearances in Ligue 1 later (11), Maziz had favored the playing time offered by Seraing to a substitute role in Metz, in the summer of 2021. He took it well since instead of experiencing the same traumatic season than his Metz teammates, he will have greatly contributed to keeping the Steelworkers in the Belgian first division, having fun on the attacking front alongside Georges Mikautadze and Ablie Jallow.
14th in the Jupiler Pro League, Louvain, who pushed hard to secure his services, has undoubtedly remembered this excellent season. After long discussions, the Flemish club has finally come to an agreement with FC Metz and with Youssef Maziz, who will try to shake a few nets across Quiévrain, but also to continue to grow. He signed up for it.
#Ligue #taste #unfinished #business #Youssef #Mazizs #record #Metz
