PROFILE | Monaco’s ‘Shy’ Maghnes Akliouche comes out of his shell | OneFootball

“He’s moved up a notch,” said Didier Deschamps after Maghnes Akliouche netted his first goal for France in November. It is a comment that best summarises the AS Monaco forward’s year. The academy product has delivered on the potential that he showed, even if it has taken time. 

“There are players that, at 17 or 18 years old, are ready,” said the Monaco Under-17s coach Manu Dos Santos told Get French Football News in an exclusive interview back in September. 

“Maghnes was late to mature physically compared with teammates the same age,” says Dos Santos. “We questioned his athletic development. He has always had confidence in himself and he had the patience to take those steps; he never lost confidence in himself and always had the right attitude. Maghnes needed more time but, thankfully, we took the time because we now know what he is capable of. Some players are precocious, but there are some players who you have to give time.”

For a long time, it was unclear whether his time would come. The player showed glimpses of class during Philippe Clement’s time at Monaco, but out on the right-hand side, he was too infrequently impactful and so he was a ‘moments player’ but certainly not one to be counted on for the duration of the season.

Breakout under Hutter

With Akliouche’s game-time opportunities subsequently limited, vultures were lurking, willing to offer him what Monaco – at the time – were not. Lille OSC came in with an offer back in 2022, but the Principality club stood firm, convinced of the young forward’s potential. 

But breaking into the team was not simple. Ahead of him were experienced players such as Aleksandr Golovin and Takumi Minamino, whilst in the meantime, another product from the club’s renowned La Diagonale academy broke through – Eliesse Ben Seghir. The Moroccan was a favourite under Clement, but the managerial change worked wonders for Akliouche, who quickly earned the trust of Adi Hutter. 

Akliouche started the Austrian’s first game as manager on the bench but came on to net his first goal for his formative club. Thereafter, he grew in confidence over the course of the 2023/24 season, but it was in the 2024/25 season that the forward found the consistency to put him in the conversation for the France national team. 

He made 19 goal contributions across the course of that season, including netting a spectacular goal in the UEFA Champions League against Barcelona. It was a season that had Hutter lobbying for Akliouche to get the call. 

“France has so many players on a top level but I cannot see another player who has the same skills as Maghnes Akliouche. He is a totally different player,” Hutter told us in an exclusive interview last season. It is not just Les Bleus who have few players of his special skillset; it is Ligue 1 in general. In fact, there is a strong argument that, outside of Paris Saint-Germain, there is no player in France’s top-flight currently more technically gifted than the France international.

Akliouche grows in stature for France

But it isn’t just the technical quality, it was the consistency with which he was impactful, decisive or the course of last season and at the beginning of this. His start to life with Les Bleus, however, was, in line with his personality as a whole, timid. 

“He has always been shy and very reserved. You need time to win him over so that he opens up. It took us a while to get his first smile,” Dos Santos told us. Didier Deschamps remarked the same thing when he called Akliouche up to the senior side. “He was quite introverted at the start, but he has opened up a bit,” said the France manager in November, just after the Monaco forward netted his first goal in Bleu.

In October, Deschamps called on Akliouche to be “more self-assured” and show confidence in his ability and he certainly was that during the last international break, at the end of November, and the player himself has said that he was “more at ease” in the environment compared to his first international camp in September.

An international player, Akliouche is now naturally expected to play a big role at Monaco, not just on the pitch but also in the dressing room by being a leader. He still needs to work on that, he himself admitted. “It is something that I can improve on, and I am aware of that. I know that my words can help the team,” he said back in October. 

His new manager, Sébastien Pocognoli, admits that Akliouche may never be a “vocal leader” but can instead be a “technical leader”, a leader by example. And whilst he continues to be an ever-present in the Monaco side (14 starts in the first 16 matchdays of the Ligue 1 season, and a starter in all six of Monaco’s UCL games), he has yet to be as impactful as he was last season. He currently has eight goal contributions to his name, whilst all three of his goals have come in the league.

Manchester City interest remains

It’s the ups and downs of a young player, but it is a dip also created by his importance at club level and now his presence at international level. Between being picked in all three of Deschamps’ squads this season and starting the vast majority of Monaco’s games, he is a player who may be in need of a rest and so the (short) winter break should provide some welcome relief.

But even amid this drop, his quality and pure talent are not in question. Even despite signing Rayan Cherki, Manchester City remain interested in Akliouche, whilst the likes of PSG and Tottenham Hotspur have also been strongly linked with a move. 

He is clearly a player capable of playing for one of Europe’s elite sides, but in 2026, his primary focus will be on rediscovering his golden touch, lifting Monaco back into the UCL places, and earning his place in France’s World Cup squad. A big year awaits.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle