Utrecht star El Karouani returns to Morocco national team | OneFootball

Souffian El Karouani’s excellent form at FC Utrecht has turned heads in Morocco. The 24-year-old left-back is now making his return to the national team after a three-year absence.

Following on from some promising performances last season, El Karouani is perhaps Utrecht’s biggest star in the first few weeks of the new campaign and has now officially been selected by Walid Regragui for the Morocco national team’s World Cup qualifying squad.

Last weekend, the Den Bosch native notably provided three assists against Excelsior in a 4-1 win. The left-footed defender has also proved himself important on several occasions during the Europa League qualifying rounds.

El Karouani has already attracted transfer interest from Spartak Moscow, but manager Ron Jans is nevertheless counting on his star performer for the Europa League second leg of qualifying against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Zrinjski Mostar.

El Karouani was last in the squad in 2022. A year earlier, the left-back made three appearances during the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, while still playing for NEC Nijmegen. Besides El Karouani, PSV’s Ismael Saibari and Sofyan Amrabat, who recently scored for Fenerbahçe against Feyenoord, were also called up.

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield