Former YouTube sensation, Hachim Mastour, seemingly had the world at his feet when he signed for AC Milan at the age of 14.
Since then, his career has been a stark warning to any young players, highlighting just how quickly this dream can be taken away from you.
What happened to AC Milan prodigy Hachim Mastour?
It is the age old argument when it comes to professional football, natural talent versus application.
Many current pros will recall tales of young footballers they have played with who had immense talent but failed to make the grade at the top level.
When Hachim Mastour shot to viral fame ten years ago, a YouTube video entitled ‘The best 14-year-old footballer in the world’, amassed just under six million views.
In the footage, he is seen dancing past players with no one seemingly able to get the ball from him as it appears to be glued to the skilful footballer’s feet.
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This led to a flurry of Europe’s biggest teams suddenly scrambling scouts to Italy to get the lowdown on the player.
For Mastour, a career that seemed to have no limits of what he could achieve, took a very different route.
Where is Hachim Mastour now?
Mastour is currently plying his trade at Renaissance Zemamra, who play in the Moroccan Second Division (Botola Pro 2).
They sit top of the table this season, as of December 28, 2022, five points clear of second-placed Stade Marocain.
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Despite being born in Italy, the forward opted to play for Morocco due to his parents’ nationality, becoming the youngest player to play for the Atlas Lions in 2015.
Returning to parents’ homeland, Mastour is now playing in the Moroccan League hoping to resurrect his career at the ripe old age of 24.
Who has Hachim Mastour played for?
After spending four years at Reggiana in their youth academy, Mastour signed for AC Milan for €500,000 in 2012.
In the 2013/14 season, manager Clarence Seedorf promoted him to the Milan first team for the final game of the season.
He would have became the club’s youngest ever player to feature in a Serie A game but did not come off the bench in the game against Sassuolo.
Milan then loaned him out to Malaga, a move which was not to work out for the youngster with the Spanish side cancelling the loan agreement.
Then sent out to PEC Zwolle, he returned to AC Milan after the loan where he had a year left on his contract.
Sadly for the youngster, the most notable incident in his time in Milan is when manager Gennaro Gattuso threatened to “knock his teeth out”
In September 2018, Greek Superleague club Lamia signed him on a free transfer but a disappointing stint of six goalless appearances in seven months saw them terminate his contract by mutual consent.
Mastour signed a three-year contract with Serie C side Reggina in October 2019 where he went on to make ten appearances for them before being loaned to Carpi in the same league.
On January 14, 2021, he scored his first professional goal in a 5-1 defeat against Sambenedettese.
After being without a club since July 2021, he signed for Moroccan side Renaissance Zemamra on June 28, 2022.
Mastour managed to score on his debut in a 3-1 win over Jeunesse Ben Guerir in Botola Pro 2.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
