Nabil Fekir's chevrons

Nabil Fekir definitely grabs the stripes that Manuel Pellegrini gives him after an irregular start to the season. The Frenchman stood out in the last match of the Verdiblancos against Barcelona and his last month reflects a growing performance with a view to the pursuit of personal and collective goals. Nobody plays more than him in the Betic team. Pellegrini gave him an important weight in his project and the former Lyon player now responds to the call of leadership: together with Canales, he is the best weapon to dream of Europe in the prelude to the key section of the course.

Fekir never intended to hide, but his role in Pellegrini's drawing now gives him greater relevance in the game, with an important role in the three-quarter creation and being a key asset in the pressure. He is the player who receives the most fouls in all of LaLiga (62), but he is also the second who commits the most (57), all an indication of the intensity with which he participates in the game of his team. “It was a shame,” Pellegrini warned about what happened in the cup match against Athletic due to the numerous fouls the Frenchman received. His plan for the end of the campaign goes largely through the version of the game that Fekir is capable of executing on the field. The request of the coach and the club for months to make a qualitative leap in his performance now finds the response of the player, which however remains not decisive at the statistical level: Only one goal and five assists.

Fekir arrived a year and a half ago with the label of becoming the most decisive piece of the team and his mission in this final stretch of the League is to perform that role.. He has the confidence of the coach and generated a lethal alliance on the pitch with Canales. Pellegrini clings to this to dream of the still distant European goal. Fekir has more goals on the table. He was present at the French national team's World Cup title and wants to convince Didier Deschamps that he may have a place in his plan for the next European Championship. A challenge that has Betis and the next summer market in suspense, in which it will once again be in the center of the spotlight due to its high price and the need for the Verdiblanco club to find high-flying economic operations in the imminent future.