Queens Park Rangers midfielder Adel Taarabt believes he could soon be on his way to Manchester United.
The Moroccan playmaker has been in breathtaking form this season, helping Rangers to the top of the Championship table.
Sunday 30 January 2011
Saturday 29 January 2011
Friday 28 January 2011
Liverpool eye former Tottenham midfielder as Adam alternative
Liverpool are lining up an eleventh hour bid for QPR sensation Adel Taarabt.
The Morocco international has been the undoubted star of the Championship this season with a series of mesmerising displays guiding Neil Warnock's team to a commanding five-point lead at the top of the table. With 13 league goals to his name this term he currently sits joint third in the list of the division's top scorers despite being a midfielder, though he has contributed far more than just finding the back of the net.
Taarabt is an outspoken, troublesome character who failed to endear himself with his former employers at Tottenham by claiming that he should have joined Arsenal instead. Not shy of praising his own abilities, at least the 21-year-old is now backing his comments up with some scintillating performances and jaw-dropping goals. His form has not gone unnoticed at Anfield who see the former Spurs man as an alternative to Charlie Adam whom they are trying to prise from Blackpool for £6m with the Tangerines holding out for double that figure.
Taarabt only joined QPR permanently last summer having spent 18 months on loan at the club. He was signed for a fee rising to £1m though Liverpool can expect to pay significantly more for a player that looks certain to playing Premier League football with Rangers, who themselves are hardly in need of the money with the likes of Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, former Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal all co-owners at Loftus Road.
Thursday 27 January 2011
ADEL TAARABT – A DIFFERENT LEAGUE OR FOUND HIS LEVEL?
There is no doubt that one of the best (if not, the best) player in the Championship this season is QPR’s star man Adel Taarabt. The Moroccan youngster was the difference in Rangers’ 2-1 victory at home to Coventry at the weekend when he scored his 13th goal of the season and showed his ‘tekkers’ when assisting a through ball for Wayne Routledge to score the winner. Rightly so, his impressive displays this season have made headlines, being linked to Newcastle United or more sensationally, being tipped to play for Real Madrid. However, the question still remains, has he found his level in the Championship or is he ready for the big time?
Let’s not forget that Adel is only 21 years of age and is still learning the game. His permanent move to Loftus Road last summer was crucial in him getting regular first team football in a competitive league. It is an experience he wouldn’t have got if he was at one of the top Premiership clubs. Also, his current manager Neil Warnock has had a significant impact on his career by shaping the Rangers team around him, a free role which suits his style of play; flair and creativity.
When Rangers captain, Fitz Hall got injured at the start of the season, Warnock gave the armband to Taarabt – a bold move at the time considering his age and experience but it has paid off with Adel leading by example on the pitch. Not only is he Rangers’ top scorer this season, he also has 11 assists to his name – a stat which could make the difference in the R’s promotion ambitions.
Regarding his future, Taarabt has said he wants to focus on getting QPR into the Premiership and then ‘he will see’, but hasn’t denied his ambitions for playing at the top level with his admiration for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal’s style of play. Is he ready for a big move in the summer? Or should he gain regular Premier League football with QPR, if they achieve promotion this season?
Adel is a different player from the one that made several appearances for Tottenham Hotspur where he showed an inability to pass to team mates, and despite going missing in the odd game this season, Adel has showed more intelligence to his play. Perhaps he is excelling in this Rangers team because Warnock has made him the talisman, if he was to make a move to bigger club, he will lose that big fish in a small pond title and instead be in a large ocean with bigger fish.
If he does want to move on in his career come the summer, it would have to be a wise move, to a club and manager that will nurture his talents rather than stifle him. Personally, I hope he stays at Rangers for as long as possible because he’s one of the most exciting players we have had in decades.
The ‘new Zidane’ finally coming of age – Premier League clubs ready to swoop
Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock will struggle to keep hold of prized asset Adel Taarabt, after a number of scintillating performances this season.
In truth, it has been a long time coming, but the Moroccan international has finally found his form under Warnock’s guidance, and how the Championship leaders have reaped the rewards.
Taarabt first arrived in England at the tender age of seventeen with Tottenham Hotspur winning the race for the sought after signature of a player who already had a growing reputation.
Upon his arrival his then agent Rudy Raba modestly proclaimed, “In France it is simple, he is considered as the new Zidane.
“He is exceptional, he is one of the most talented young players in France, perhaps the most”. No pressure then.
Martin Jol
On the ball I don’t think there’s another talent like him in England
Not long after, former Spurs manager Martin Jol compared Taarabt to Tottenham legend David Ginola, labeling the player ‘a wizard’. Jol told the Daily Mail, “On the ball I don’t think there’s another talent like him in England”.
But for all the promise, things didn’t work out for Taarabt at Tottenham who grew frustrated with an immensely skillful young player with absolutely no ability to implement his skills meaningfully in the Barclays Premier League.
Current Spurs manager Harry Redknapp took the difficult decision to move Taarabt on, initially on loan to QPR, who then decided they had seen enough to part with £1million last summer to bring him to Loftus Road permanently.
The Metro newspaper last week quoted Redknapp saying that Taarabt’s current form could see him get the sack for letting him leave for such a nominal fee.
It is now believed that a number of leading Barclays Premier League clubs are courting the magic-man, now 21, but the cost of his services now might not be so modest.
Newcastle are said to have offered £5million up front to take him to St James’ Park, but Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool are also said to be keeping an eye on the situation.
Arsene Wenger was a whisker away from bringing him to Arsenal the first time around, when Taarabt opted for their North-London rivals on the advice of then Tottenham director Damien Comolli.
Now employed as the Liverpool director of football strategy, Comolli is once again thought to be closely monitoring the starlet, whose addition would serve as evidence of new Reds owners fulfilling their pledge to bring exciting young talent to Anfield.
Wednesday 26 January 2011
TEAMtalk's Top 10 Championship stars
1 - Adel Taarabt, QPR: Quite simply, the Championship's best player this season and the main reason why Rangers are currently top of the tree. Blessed with a mesmerising touch, a fierce shot and eye for a pass, Taarabt could comfortably hold his own in the Premier League. Tottenham's loss is very much QPR's gain and I wonder if Harry Redknapp now regrets his sale to the R's for the bargain £600,000 fee? T'riffic!
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Neil Warnock's like a dad - I'm desperate to get QPR promoted, says Adel Taarabt
Adel Taarabt hated life in England so much when he moved here that he wanted to go back to France only two weeks after joining Tottenham.
Fast forward four years and the Queens Park Rangers captain has no thoughts of leaving this country.The reason for the dramatic transformation in Taarabt's attitude is thanks, largely, to Neil Warnock.
It was Warnock - the sixth manager Taarabt has played under at Loftus Road - who finally turned his loans into a permanent move and then made him captain, with both decisions paying off handsomely.
On Sunday, the 21-year-old scored his 13th goal of the season - another wonder strike - in a 2-1 win over Coventry, which left Rangers top of the Championship by five points.
"Neil is the first manager who really knows how to treat me," he says. "He's like a dad. Sometimes I make a mistake on the pitch and he says to the other players, 'Don't shout at him. If somebody has to speak to him it's me'.
"This year has been fantastic for me. I hope to get in the Premier League because Neil deserves it."
Less than a year after being born in Morocco, Taarabt and his family emigrated to France, growing up in Marseilles. He started his football career with Lens' youth team but was only 17 when he moved to London, where he was given a rude awakening in life both on and off the pitch.
"I arrived to find that, at three o'clock in the afternoon, it was already night. I played for the Tottenham reserves against Chelsea and I could not understand how the English played. Somebody put me on the floor but there were no free-kicks, nothing. The referee just played on. When you play in France it's quiet, the players do not talk. In England I hear players saying, 'F**k off. Man on. Come on'. Players in my team, they are shouting at me. I think they're insulting me."
It did not help that he did not know a word of English.
"I was at the training ground and somebody said, 'Adel, do you want water?' I said to my friend Benoit [Assou-Ekotto] who was with me at Lens, 'What is water?' He said, 'You don't understand? You didn't do English at school?' I said, 'No, I didn't'."
All this had such a disastrous effect on Taarabt's football that his brother, who had accompanied him to north London, got extremely worried. For a player who felt he had a "natural, God-given ability", this was shattering.
"Tottenham put us up in a hotel and, after two weeks, I said to my brother, 'I want to go back to France.' My brother said, 'No chance - you've signed for five years, you can't go back'."
Things did improve. At least he had many French-speaking player friends at Spurs and he soon learned an easy way to improve his English.
"Tottenham had a teacher for us: every day one hour to teach us English. He would tell me this is how we say in English the wheel of a car. I said, 'I don't need this. A car wheel doesn't help me. Tell me how I call for food delivery'."
Taarabt is far more complimentary about Martin Jol, who signed him for Spurs, even if things did go awry under his successor.
"Martin Jol gave me time, but Juande Ramos really killed me," he says. "He didn't like me at all. He was treating me like a man. I was only 18 or 19. Even if he doesn't play me he could have come and given me advice. He never spoke to me. Just put me away in the reserves and said, 'I don't like him and I don't want to play him'."
Taarabt did not figure in Harry Redknapp's plans either and, within months of him taking over, Taarabt was loaned to QPR in March 2009.
"Even though Harry didn't play me a lot, he was good to me," Taarabt says. "He is one of the best English managers because he gave me advice, all the time. He told me, 'You can do unbelievable things. You have to keep working. This is England. You have to defend if you want to be a good player'.
"He told me: 'You've got the same ability as Luka Modric. But you have to work if you want to be like him'."
Last summer, Taarabt was planning a move to Spain but Redknapp convinced the Moroccan to stay in London.
"'Your football is in England, believe me', he said. 'Don't move to Spain because you're not going to enjoy that. England is the best'. I am very grateful to Harry for his advice."
Friends and fellow players warned Taarabt that a permanent move to the Championship would do no good. Even his agent advised against it but he was won over by Warnock.
"Last summer, Neil rang me and said: 'I want to make you the star. Come and you will have freedom to play'. Neil said, 'Even if you lose the ball, I will have some players behind you to do the job for you defensively'.
"When a manager tells you, 'I want to play the team around you,' then you think, 'This manager loves me'. At half-time against Preston [in November], I wasn't playing so well. Neil knows I don't like it when the other players shout at me. So he took me to the showers and said, 'What's wrong?' And in the second half I scored two goals."
Such is Warnock's faith in Taarabt that he was appointed captain when Fitz Hall injured his hamstring just a week into the season and he has held on to the armband despite the defender returning to the side in November.
"Everyone knows I'm not a leader who speaks," he says. "I don't shout at the players. I lead by example. In the dressing room, I see some players before the match, they feel pressure, they throw up, they go to the toilet. I am very relaxed. I laugh, stay cool until the game starts, then I play. Even at half-time I sit down, put my towel on my head and I don't speak. Very often I go for the second half without saying a word."
If his play has brought something special to QPR, he acknowledges he has learned team ethics from Warnock.
"Before I played just for enjoyment. I went on the pitch for 90 minutes and, if I win, I'm happy. If I don't, I go home. Now, with Neil, every game matters. Sometimes, even if I play not good but the team win, then I'm a winner."
His success has made Redknapp wonder if he was right to offload him.
"I saw him last week and Harry had a laugh with me and told me, 'I'm going to get sacked now because of you. I sell you for £1million and now you're worth I don't know how much'."
Taarabt still has lots of friends at Tottenham, so is it possible, having got QPR to the Premier League, that he would move back to White Hart Lane?
"I don't know because this club have given me a lot. I'm enjoying my time here. At the moment, I just want to take QPR into the Premier League. And if I do, I will feel I did my job. But I've got ambition. So, if I've got a good opportunity, then maybe I'll take it."
Despite playing for Tottenham his real English love has always been the other north London club, one he could have joined back in 2007.
"The man who took me to Tottenham was Damien Comolli, now at Liverpool," he says. "He was at Arsenal then. But, when I was going to go to Arsenal, he moved to Tottenham. He told me: 'Come to Tottenham. We want to do like they do at Arsenal and take the best young players in the world. You're going to have a better chance there.' I believed him. This was a mistake and I regret it.
"Tottenham tried to do it like Arsenal but it's a different culture. I would have had a better chance at Arsenal. I would progress with Arsene Wenger. He is a legend in France, one of the best managers in the world."
Taarabt's closest friend is Marouane Chamakh, the Morocco captain now at Arsenal: "I see him all the time. I sleep at his house. He's like a big brother."
Taarabt has never spoken to Wenger, only said hello. But, should the Frenchman decide in the summer that he wants to do more than say hello, he will find Taarabt an eager listener.
"I like the way Arsenal play. If Arsenal come, of course, I'll be very happy."
Thisislondon
SKYSPORTS: Taarabt
Interestingly, you could also put the Championship's Man of the Weekend in that bracket with Adel Taarabt at QPR. He began his career in England with Spurs, but it is only now dropping to the Football League that he looks a real prospect and one who could now easily play in the top-flight.
Taarabt has been a phenomenon this season and is undoubtedly, currently, the best player outside the Premier League.
The Moroccan star was in blistering form at the weekend, scoring a brilliant equaliser against Coventry before a sublime pass sent Wayne Routledge through to score the winner.
It is not very often that both managers sing the praises of one player, but that is what happened at Loftus Road as visiting boss Aidy Boothroyd joined Neil Warnock in salivating over Taarabt's talent.
Taarabt has been a phenomenon this season and is undoubtedly, currently, the best player outside the Premier League.
The Moroccan star was in blistering form at the weekend, scoring a brilliant equaliser against Coventry before a sublime pass sent Wayne Routledge through to score the winner.
It is not very often that both managers sing the praises of one player, but that is what happened at Loftus Road as visiting boss Aidy Boothroyd joined Neil Warnock in salivating over Taarabt's talent.
Monday 24 January 2011
Orr in awe of Taarabt as he tips him to take QPR to Premier League
"Sometimes it is mesmerising watching Adel," said Orr.
"To be on the same pitch as him is a privilege at times. His assists and goals tally is amazing. As well as doing it in training, he actually has a proper end product as well. He has been phenomenal for us this season and long may it continue.
"In training he can embarrass you, and he just takes that ability and produces it in matches. He is by far the most talented player I have played with. Is he a top-flight player? His performances speak for themselves. Hopefully he'll be a Premier League player at QPR."
"To be on the same pitch as him is a privilege at times. His assists and goals tally is amazing. As well as doing it in training, he actually has a proper end product as well. He has been phenomenal for us this season and long may it continue.
"In training he can embarrass you, and he just takes that ability and produces it in matches. He is by far the most talented player I have played with. Is he a top-flight player? His performances speak for themselves. Hopefully he'll be a Premier League player at QPR."
Here
Sunday 23 January 2011
Warnock applauds Taarabt display
"Either goal was fit to win any game, and you won't see a better ball for the second anywhere in the world," said Warnock.
"There's baggage with him and he'll make some mistakes. He was bombed out by the previous two managers here and rightly so, but it couldn't be better for me at this time of my career and I think I'm the right manager for him.
"My son bought his mate today just to see Taarabt. He thinks he should be playing for Real Madrid. And he could, but first of all he's got to help me."
"There's baggage with him and he'll make some mistakes. He was bombed out by the previous two managers here and rightly so, but it couldn't be better for me at this time of my career and I think I'm the right manager for him.
"My son bought his mate today just to see Taarabt. He thinks he should be playing for Real Madrid. And he could, but first of all he's got to help me."
Taarabt vs coventry 2-1 01||23||2011
One perfect goal from the champion Adel Taarabt
Enjoy ! :
The assist from Adel Taarabt in the second goal
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Enjoy ! :
The assist from Adel Taarabt in the second goal
Enjoy :
Saturday 22 January 2011
Thursday 20 January 2011
Wednesday 19 January 2011
MITRE GOAL OF THE YEAR: 3 GOALS FOR TAARABT
GOAL D: Adel Taraabt v Burnley (h) 30th Octobr
GOAL F: Adel Taarabt's first v Preston (h) 20th November
GOAL G: Adel Taarabt's second v swansea (h) 29th December
Monday 17 January 2011
Sunday 16 January 2011
Saturday 15 January 2011
Friday 14 January 2011
Wednesday 12 January 2011
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