Sadiq El Fitouri

Sadiq El Fitouri (born 10 October 1994) is a Libyan professional footballer who plays as a defender for Manchester United. He predominantly plays in a right-back role, but he can also be deployed as a centre-back. He began his professional career with the Manchester City youth team, subsequently moving to Northern Premier League side Salford City before being offered a move to Manchester United. He currently plays for Manchester United's under-21 team and the Libya national team.

Early life

El Fitouri was born in Libya, and raised in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. During his time studying at Stretford High School, he was a member of the school's trophy-winning football team, which also progressed to a national cup final. During a season in the school's under-14 team, El Fitouri's father once stopped him from playing due to declining grades, but he subsequently returned to playing football after his grades improved.^[1]

El Fitouri has a brother, Hamam, who plays as a defender or midfielder for Burnley in its youth academy.^[2]

Club career

Manchester City

After leaving school, El Fitouri and two friends joined Manchester City, but all three were subsequently released.^[1] El Fitouri spent around a year with the club's youth setup. He was described as a player that could cope physically, but was not the best in the other aspects of the game. He was deemed as a late developer and did not manage to break into the club's first-team squad during his time there.^[3]

Salford City

Following his release from Manchester City's youth system, El Fitouri participated only in recreational football, before joining Salford City after a successful trial in December 2014. On 3 January 2015, he made his first-team debut for the club, in a Division One North tie against Kendal Town that ended 2–1.^[4] His debut match would turn out to be his only appearance for the Northern Premier League club. Several weeks prior to the match, the club had sacked incumbent manager, Phil Power. Part-owners Phil Neville and Paul Scholes had stepped in as caretakers for the club during the period, and were impressed with El Fitouri during training and his performance in the match against Kendal Town, prompting the pair to recommend El Fitouri to their former club's under-21 manager, Warren Joyce.^[1]

Manchester United

Through the recommendations of Neville and Scholes, El Fitouri was offered a week-long trial at the Trafford Training Centre. His performance during the trial prompted the club to offer him a contract. On 30 January 2015, El Fitouri signed an 18-month contract with Manchester United, entering the club's U-21 team.^[5]

On 23 February 2015, El Fitouri made his debut for the Manchester United U-21 team, in a match against the Sunderland U-21 team, which ended 1–1.^[6][7] He made three more appearances for the team in the 2014–15 season of the Professional Development League, where the Manchester United under-21 team went on to be crowned champions for the season.^[8] He was named in the senior 25 man squad for the 2016-17 Premier League season.

International career

On 6 June 2015, El Fitouri made his full international debut for Libya after being included in the starting line-up by national coach Javier Clemente for a friendly match against Mali.^[9] A week later, on 12 June 2015, El Fitouri made his first competitive appearance for Libya in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Morocco. He played in his preferred right-back role for the full 90 minutes, with the match ending in a 1-0 defeat.^[10]

Playing style

El Fitouri is a sturdy defender with an athletic build, and favours the use of tackles in his play.^[3]

Career statistics

Club career

As of 24 September 2015^[11]

References