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Amine Adli: Bayer Leverkusen’s Moroccan Gem

August 16, 2024
Player Analysis, Bundesliga Analysis

Name: Amine Adli

Club: Bayer Leverkusen 

Nationality: Morocco

Position: Attacking Midfielder, Forward

Preferred Foot: Left

Height: 174cm (5ft 7′)

Age: 24

 

Amine Adli, born in Béziers, France, he holds French and Moroccan nationalities. He was a youth international for France, but opted to represent Morocco at the senior level. He fell in love with the beautiful game at the age of 5 because of how interested his father was about the game. The same way flowers cannot do without water was absolutely how little Adli could not do without football.

 

 

Adli started his youth career in 2007 at the age of 7 for AS Pezenas Tourbes and, in 2012 he moved to AS Béziers where he spent three years developing before moving to Les Violets academy in 2015. Adli signed his first professional contract with Toulouse on 30 October, 2018.

 

He made his professional debut with the club in a 4-1 Coupe de la Ligue loss to Lyon on 18 December, 2019. Adli helped Toulouse reach the playoffs in the 2020/21 Ligue 2 season, with eight goals and seven assists. He was then voted Ligue 2 player of the season.

 

On 26 August, 2021, Adli signed for Bayer Leverkusen in a five year deal which is set to expire on June, 2026. Adli scored his first goal for the club on 30 September, 2021 in a Europa League group stage match against Celtic to round off a 4-0 away win. On 20 November, 2021 he scored his first Bundesliga goal, scoring the only goal after three minutes in a 1-0 win over VFL Bochum, his last goal amazingly came against Bochum last season.

 

In his third full season for Leverkusen, Adli was part of Xabi Alonso’s invincible side that won the 2023/24 Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. In his debut season, he was involved in three goals and two assists in 27 matches. There was a marginal improvement in his second season despite missing the opening part of the 2022/23 season.

 

 

The French-born Moroccan scored five and provided three assists across 26 Bundesliga games to be Leverkusen’s third-best player for goal involvements that campaign. Then, it even got better in his third season as he was among the five Leverkusen players to have been involved in 10+ goals and 10+ assists.

 

He provided 12 assists and scored 10 goals in all competitions for Die Werkself with the likes of Victor Boniface, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Grimaldo. At 24 years of age, Adli has been a bench option for Leverkusen especially with the arrival of Victor Boniface last summer. He hasn’t seen much minutes in the Bundesliga, featuring in only 29.3% of Leverkusen’s total minutes last season.

 

Notwithstanding, he has been a regular starter in the Europa League and in the club’s DFB-Pokal triumph as he was the main man in the latter, finishing as the top scorer with five goals from eight shots on target, he provided three assists and he was involved in a goal every 49 minutes in the cup with no player having more goal involvements than the Moroccan (8), who also won more penalties (2) than any other player in the tournament.

 

Adli is versatile in terms of the positions and roles he’s played for his side. Thus far in his young career, he has played several different roles from his time at Toulouse till now at Leverkusen, playing on either wing, as a number ‘8’, as a number ’10’ and as a center forward. In his last 50 matches for Leverkusen, he had been used in the attacking midfield role 30 times and as a forward 18 times with five of those coming from the left side, he has played as a central midfielder twice.

 

 

The former French U-21 player is a fantastic ball carrier, his ability to immaculately adjust the path of the ball in the nick of time can see him weave through tight situations perfectly. Adli presents a significant threat in behind the opposition’s backline thanks to his intelligent movement, pace and special likeness for shooting with the inside of his left foot.

 

Adli at 174cm is not a big player physically. He’s not very small but he’s definitely not going to stand out with his height as a center forward, that is why questions were asked when he started ahead of Victor Boniface and Patrick Schick in the Europa League Final against Atalanta.

 

Despite playing lesser minutes in the Bundesliga than Schick and Boniface, he has won 47% of his aerial duels in 897 minutes of Bundesliga action, that is an average of 0.9 aerial duels won per game compared to Schick’s 51% in 1,242 minutes and Boniface’s 56% in 1,564 minutes.

 

This is the reason Xabi Alonso prefers playing him as a supporting striker or in the false nine role and predominantly as an attacking midfielder despite him not being a traditional number ’10’. He’s an excellent dribbler and very good at laying off the ball for his teammates and because of how brilliant he is on holding on to the ball, he gets fouled often, this is the reason he flourishes in those roles.

 

 

The hunger Adli shows coupled with the intensity and the quality he’s got, if he is consistent, it will just be a matter of time before he finally hits his stride. Bayer Leverkusen had a never to be forgotten season in European football. Then, with two years left on Adli’s contract, could this be the season he unlocks his full potential?

 

By: Phenom Akpan / @phenomakpan

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Angel Martinez – UEFA

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