Naoufal Bannis hardly gets a job under Arne Slot Feyenoord. The nineteen-year-old attacker is having a hard time with his supporting role, but he is not giving up yet, he tells FunX.
Bannis has been knocking on Feyenoord’s door since 2019. He was transferred to the A-selection by Jaap Stam, but when Dick Advocaat took over, he had to go back to the second. “I had played matches in the first team and then you have to go back to youth. I needed a while to process that. Due to injuries in the first team I was allowed to train again. Lawyer came to me: you can play football so well, show it. I was really driven then.”
Bannis then also made his first goal for the Rotterdam team, in November 2020 he signed the winning against FC Emmen. “I will never forget that moment. The roof went off, everyone was screaming.” However, there were no more chances. “That period was instructive. The lawyer indicated that I was not ready for it yet, also in the media. I was not yet strong physically at the time and I also received quite a lot of criticism. I was only seventeen years old, so it got to me. and then yes.”
In January 2021, Bannis was leased to FC Dordrecht. “I spent a lot of minutes there and scored my goals.” He therefore hoped for a new chance under Arne Slot at Feyenoord. “I started training for myself a month before the preparation. In the tests and the data I also stood out during the conditional training sessions. In the preparation I then made the winning against an opponent like Atlético.”
Still, Bannis faded into the background once the season started. “Of course there are times when you start to doubt,” he agrees. “I was the top scorer in the preparation. What am I doing wrong? You remain a person with emotions. It is difficult now, but I remain passionate and motivated to wait for that one chance to make it happen.”
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