“I want to rediscover the pleasure of playing Football”

Football can move very quickly. Yassine Ben Hamed can attest to this. A former great hope in French football as a left defender, the player of the 2003 generation had completed his career between OL, his hometown club, and LOSC. From then on, all eyes were on him as he honored his first selections for the French U16 and U17 team with whom he has 12 cumulative selections. Despite his desire to represent Algeria in the youth team, his rating has clearly not gone down in the North where LOSC was ready to offer him a professional contract. Detecting a certain talent in the young player, Christophe Galtier wanted him to join the professional group among the pros. Finally, almost to everyone's surprise, the native of Villeurbanne joined Belgium and Royal Antwerp.

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A decision which surprised everyone and which was notably motivated by its representatives at the time, as the player told us this week: “Lille was my number 1 choice, because it was the club that gave me everything so I had to continue with them. However, my former agents forced my departure and an agreement was established behind my back with a club without me even knowing it. Christophe Galtier was a great coach, he gave me a lot of confidence and understood my style of play perfectly. I felt very good because I felt confidence in myself and that gave me more confidence to perform.» From then on, this leap into the unknown in Flemish lands will have been detrimental to the promising start of the career of young Yassine Ben Hamed.

Yassine Ben Hamed: “I am ready to play at any time”

However, its beginnings seemed interesting. Considered and incorporated into the rotation of the professional group, he took part in the club's pre-season and even made a remarkable debut against Mechelen in the Jupiler Pro League in July 2021 at just 18 years old. However, the nightmare then begins: sent to the reserve team, he stagnates for his first season and he learns the following summer that he will still have to play in the reserve during his second vintage in Belgium. Still closeted at the time of writing, the former OL player has the feeling of having been cheated. Vengeful, he nevertheless stays the course and aspires to quickly take his revenge on the field against all the people who have put his career in danger for more than two years: “my ambitions are to find pleasure and the field again as quickly as possible but also to release my rage on the meadow. There are a lot of things that happened that no one really knows. Despite that, I prefer to remain silent, everything pays off one day or another, and I continue to work to be ready as soon as I am called upon.”

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Exactly, what will this suite be made of for the left-handed? Having remarkable defensive qualities during his training in France, Ben Hamed still remains young and can get back on track quickly provided he has an environment conducive to this redemption. The search for a project in which he feels fulfilled and central will be one of his dearest wishes in the coming months. In the meantime, Yassine Ben Hamed continues to train hard and wants to make a new start quickly: “I have no regrets about the start of my career. I'm still young, my whole future is ahead of me. I redouble my efforts every day as if it were my last to be ready to make my comeback! No one will stop me!» At the same time, the 21-year-old left defender is surrounded by a team of physical trainers who follow him on a daily basis while he still participates in training for the Belgian team. Under contract until next June with Antwerp, Ben Hamed is free to discuss with whomever he wishes within a handful of days to decide on his future.