Zaid Bafdili compared to European champion, Sporting star shines | OneFootball

David Penneman believes that Zaid Bafdili has many similarities with Marco Verratti, European Champion for Italy. The young Belgian prodigy signed for Sporting in the summer, at a time when Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea were closely following his career.

"Zaid has long been considered one of the most talented midfielders of his age group, born in 2007, for combining his running ability with technique and ball recovery. He went through Anderlecht and Mechelen before transferring to Genk and the fact that Sporting, a Club with one of the most respected Academies in Europe, chose to hire him, at only 17 years old, is a clear sign of his reputation as a top talent", said the U-19 coach of Belgium, to the newspaper A Bola.

Penneman describes Zaid Bafdili as being "an absolute winner and energetic on and off the field", recalling the connection between them: "I have been following and working with Zaid for four years. The last one was not easy for him due to transfer complications. In fact, it was a very difficult period, because he is an energetic boy and, suddenly, he was not getting playing time. He was standing still. During this period we kept frequent contacts, because I wanted to support him and we also invited him during the international break in March to be with us because he is an important link within the group, but also to give him the necessary support".

Challenged to describe Bafdili, Penneman did not hesitate: "The ability to run, recover balls, offensive infiltrations and intensity is what characterizes him, maybe that's why he resembles Verratti a lot [Italian midfielder currently playing at Al-Duhail in Saudi Arabia]. As for what he needs to improve, in all young players at this age, it's about managing this running ability and scoring goals after his good incursions into the area".

At Sporting you will be surrounded by winners, embrace the intensity every day in training and also add your own. Work your body, surpass your limits and continue to play with the same attitude that brought you here".

Watch some of Bafdili's plays:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.