He has a catchy name, a small brown tuft and piercing blue eyes. However, Maghnes Akliouche, 22, is a rather discreet player. “It’s in the family. We are all a little bit the same”explains Rachid Akliouche, his father. He doesn’t talk much, is quite reserved, sometimes even in the locker room. “Maghnes, his field of expression, was the green rectangle”, assures Stéphane Nado, his coach when he played with the Monaco reserve during the 2020-2021 season. « A match, iHe speaks, he directs and is able to take people with him with the volume he has, to harangue those who don’t do the shopping and to shake them if things don’t go his way.adds Eric Laclef, his educator at US Torcy in U13, before summarizing: « IHe saw the game before the others. »
From 93 to Monaco: a well-known path
Maghnes Akliouche touched his first balls in Île-de-France. Born in Tremblay-en-France (93), the young boy grew up in Rosny-sous-Bois and discovered football at Villemomble Sports before continuing at US Torcy, in Seine-et-Marne. « We are a family very passionate about football, starting with myselfpresents the father. When he was little, I took him to the park and he was already practicing technical movements. » His favorite players? Zidane, Iniesta and Ronaldo. The young Maghnes is a little frail but despite his size, he has always been able to put his technical finesse and tactical intelligence to good use in his midfield position. “He was someone who felt this notion of imbalance in one-on-one and who liked to play them”, explains Stéphane Nado.
Very early on, he was tested in a playmaker or striker support role, such as as a right winger. It is in this position that he played his first Champions League match against FC Barcelona, in the AS Monaco jersey, on September 19. At the 16e minute, Vanderson sends a beautiful diagonal to the curly who cuts in the axis on his left foot before finishing by deceiving Ter Stegen flush with the post. The first goal of his career in the premier competition and a nice way to open his tally for the season, to which must be added two assists in eight games. « It’s a source of pride to say that, finally, he can measure up to the greats. As soon as there is a big match, against Marseille, Paris or Barcelona, for example, that’s when we see itreacts his father. We remember all the work that was done, it wasn’t always easy. » Like all those times we had to take the kid to play “in the rain, or at 0 degrees”.
The thermometer is much more lenient in Monaco, where he arrived in 2017. The destination was carefully considered. First, few people believed in his abilities to enter INF Clairefontaine. When he gets there, he continues to play with Torcy on the weekends. He then begins to be followed by different clubs, who offer nothing concrete. The Principality club had the most attractive proposition. “We played him in a configuration that could get closer to what they wanted to put in place”, explains Eric Laclef. Maghnes having always been a very serious student, his education was obviously taken into account by his future club. He was a very good student, his teachers said of him that he was “a classy engine” and his parents always insisted on it. The living environment also played a lot in this happy marriage. “He was far from us, we said to ourselves that it was better to find a place with as little stress as possiblejustifies Rachid Akliouche. Morphologically, he was a little late, it wasn’t easy. We also knew that it would be a club that would give him time to grow. Other clubs might have been less patient. »
Released, delivered: thank you Bleuets
While players explode earlier and earlier, like his own teammate Eliesse Ben Seghir, 19 years old, Maghnes Akliouche is “only” starting to reveal himself, at 22 years old. In Monaco, he was able to cut his teeth with the reserve in National 2, before joining the pro squad during the 2021-2022 season. If he had not “not necessarily the speed qualities of normal eccentrics”according to Nado, he compensates with “speed of perception which allows him to adapt almost everywhere in the offensive sector”. Characteristics that make him an altruistic player, focused on passing, sometimes too much. “He has progressed in his desire to go more towards the goal and to finish the actions. We see it a lot more on the surface”, continues the Monegasque trainer.
Maghnes is the boy whose effectiveness we recognize when we are his coach and we have him with us on a daily basis.
In front of his television for the match against Barça, Eric Laclef also noticed this progression at the time of his goal: “When he starts, I know he’s going to complete this action whereas last year, in the same situation, I think he made a pass from the start. » Because of his personality, he was sometimes able to forget himself a little. “He thought he should just make other people shine. I think he must have been released and very well supported at the Espoirs by Thierry Henry who must have made him understand that he could also score goals and dribble, and not just deliver assists.analyzes Eric Laclef. For him, if Akliouche has gone under the radar for a long time, it is precisely because he works in the shadows for the collective. “Maghnes is the boy whose effectiveness we recognize when we are his coach and we have him with us on a daily basis”, praises the former educator at US Torcy.
And it’s not Thierry Henry who will say the opposite. During the Paris Olympic Games, if the left-hander did not start in all the matches, his presence in the team was in no way a coincidence. It was last October that he was called up for the first time with the Espoirs. https://twitter.com/RMCsport/status/1711397177006735663the former Bleuets coach confided that he appreciated “the way he presses, the way he always wants the ball, his activity, his desire, his attention”. But also, its ability to “turn, go forward, make the last pass, shoot straight (his bad foot, Editor’s note). He doesn’t talk much, but he talks a lot with the ball. He gives off something. If you give him a minute, two minutes, he’ll be all in. And he plays for the team, that’s important too. » A young person who walks with confidence, who takes advantage of every minute to show what he is capable of and who knows how to give back what is given to him: the silver medal and his goal in the Olympic final can attest to this.
A future in Blue?
Will he be able to break his chrysalis to fly away for good with the older ones? We will have to see with whom: this Franco-Algerian, from a family from Raffour, in Kabylia, can always choose the Fennecs. However, the squad review carried out by Didier Deschamps, in search of re-oxygenation of his group, as well as the call-ups to the A of his Olympiad friends Michael Olise and Manu Koné can give him serious reasons for hope. Still a scorer against Cyprus on Friday, the boy knows how to meet appointments, which just need to be made. “The World Cup is not for now. It’s better for him to be called four months before than now to disappear later.” brakes Laclef.
Patience, certainly, but the expectations around him are no less high. With an extension until 2028, AS Monaco is banking on him and this season should allow him to take a step forward. “His playing times are very intelligently planned and calculated, his progression is linear”congratulates Eric Laclef. Ideal management by both the club and the family, who have always managed to stay at the right distance. “We never complained. Whether he played or not, we let them work. Today, we see that it was a good thing for us and for Monaco”, explains the dad. About his first name, he explains: “Maghnes?” It is a Berber first name. It designates a man of letters, one who writes”. That’s good, the most beautiful chapters are just waiting to be revealed.
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