Think about it. You were born in France, and you are captain of your national U21 side. You play for Chateauroux. You are a few weeks short of your 21st birthday. It’s time to move on, and time to decide which team to sign for from the list of cubs chasing you. Your choice is Barcelona, Lazio, Marseille, Celtic, Aston Villa, Everton and Charlton. Go on, admit it. There’s only one choice, isn’t there?
Yassin Moutaouakil signed for Charlton for €600,000 in June 2007, following an impressive European U21 tournament.
He has started off saying all the right things:
I chose Charlton because I feel that this is an ambitious club and I believe that I will progress well under the manager here. Charlton have shown great interest in me, for which I am very grateful, and after the discussions I had with the club I wanted to be a part of this project. The most important thing for me is the trust and the confidence that I have in this club.
Factoid: to help with pronouncing Yassin’s family name, consider that it rhymes with this.