PROFILE | Hicham Boudaoui – the technical leader of a struggling OGC Nice team | OneFootball

The major problem at OGC Nice is quality and the lack of it. In successive seasons, the club have sold their best players, with Evann Guessand and Marcin Bulka notably leaving last summer. On each occasion, they have not been replaced, meaning that, naturally, the quality within the squad has decreased. 

One player who has remained, however, is Hicham Boudaoui. For the past two seasons, he has been one of the technical leaders in this team, and at the time of writing, he is in a league of his own within this Nice squad. 

He is not an outlier statistically, but he always stands out on the pitch. The Algeria international is silky smooth on the ball. From deep in the midfield, he has the ability to drive Nice up the pitch, as he so often does, turning, weaving, and carrying the ball out of danger to put his side on the front foot. Boudaoui is a very quiet character but he is one of those who is ultra expressive with the ball at his feet, but because he does it from deeper areas, the recognition for his efforts is not always forthcoming and so his is a name often overlooked when we talk about the best midfielders in Ligue 1; his lack of voice also plays a part in excluding him from that discussion. But make no mistake, he is one of them. 

Haise ruled out Boudaoui move in the summer

There have been plenty of changes in the Nice midfield as Franck Haise looks to summon a response from his team. But when fit (which he has not always been this season), Boudaoui is indispensable. So important in possession, especially given how sides in Ligue 1 now press higher, his ability to cover large spaces off the ball is also crucial in transitional phases of play.

It is no wonder that Boudaoui constituted something of a red line in the summer. “Boudaoui won’t leave. It is the club that decides. If we want to keep the team on track, to strengthen it, and to bring back our injured players to have a team that can target the top seven (in Ligue 1), it isn’t by losing Hicham – or others – that we will get there,” said Haise back in August. Nice, this season, are certainly weakened, leaving Boudaoui as their greatest strength.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle