Sadiq El Fitouri

Sadiq El Fitouri (born 10 October 1994) is a Libyan professional footballer who plays as a defender. He has also been capped by the Libya national team.

Sadiq El Fitouri
Personal information
Full name Sadiq El Fitouri
Date of birth (1994-10-10) 10 October 1994
Place of birth Benghazi, Libya
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s) Defender
Youth career
2010–2013 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015 Salford City 1 (0)
2015–2017 Manchester United 0 (0)
2017 Chesterfield 2 (0)
2017 Al Ahli Tripoli 0 (0)
2018 Politehnica Iași 0 (0)
2019 Al-Hilal Omdurman 0 (0)
National team‡
2015–2016 Libya 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 April 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 5 February 2017

He predominantly plays as a right-back, but he can also operate as a centre-back. He began his career in the Manchester City youth system, subsequently moving to Salford City, before joining Manchester United in January 2015. He had a short stint at Chesterfield in 2017 after being released by Manchester United before joining Al Ahli Tripoli in July 2017. He signed for Politehnica Iași in January 2018 where he remained for only two months due to injuries.

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]

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.

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.[2] 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 under-21 team.[3]

On 23 February 2015, El Fitouri made his debut for the Manchester United under-21 team, in a match against the Sunderland under-21 team, which ended 1–1.[4][5] 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.[6] He was named in the senior 25-man squad for the 2016–17 Premier League season.[7]

Chesterfield

El Fitouri signed for League One club Chesterfield on 2 February 2017, after being released by Manchester United.[8] He made his debut two days later on 4 February 2017 in a 1–0 home defeat to Oldham Athletic.[9] El Fitouri started the next game on 11 February 2017 against Northampton Town, losing 3–1.[10] After that game he was given several days off for personal reasons and failed to contact or arrive at the proact, despite Chesterfield attempting to contact the player, and was subsequently released by the club at the end of the season.[11]

Al-Ahli Sports Club

After being released by Chesterfield, El Fitouri returned to the country of his birth and joined reigning Libyan Premier League champions Al-Ahli Tripoli on 29 July 2017.[12]

CSM Politehnica Iași

El Fitouri returned to Europe after signing for Romanian club Politehnica Iași on 30 January 2018.[13][14] However injuries prevented him from playing and subsequently had his contract terminated on 28 March, only two months after joining, with Iași wishing him the best of luck.[15]

Al-Hilal Omdurman

On 14 March 2019, El Fitouri signed for Sudanese club Al-Hilal Omdurman on a two year deal.[16][17]

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.[18] 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.[19]

Style of play

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

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 11 February 2017[20][21]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Salford City 2014–15 Division One North 1000––0010
Manchester United 2016–17 Premier League 000000000000
Chesterfield 2016–17 League One 200000–0020
Al-Ahli Tripoli 2017–18 Premier League 000000–0000
Politehnica Iași 2017–18 Liga I 000000000000
Al-Hilal Omdurman 2018–19 Sudan Premier League 000000000000
Career total 300000000030

International
As of match played 21 March 2020[22]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Libya 201550
201610
Total60
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References
  1. Mitten, Andy (10 February 2015). "Man Utd exclusive: How Sadiq El Fitouri pulled off his miracle move to Old Trafford". Manchester Evening News. MEN Media. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  2. Giblin, Andy. "Debut Strike Sets Up Valuable Win - 1st Team - Salford City Football Club". Pitchero. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  3. "Sadiq El Fitouri signs for Manchester United". ManUtd.com. Manchester United. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  4. "Manchester United Under-21 fixtures 2014/15". ManUtd.com.
  5. Turrell, Rhys (23 February 2015). "Manchester United hand debut to ex-Salford City right-back Sadiq El Fitouri". Daily Star. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  6. "Sadiq El Fitouri player profile". ManUtd.com. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  7. "Squads for 2016/17 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  8. "Sadiq el Fitouri: Former Manchester United defender joins Chesterfield". BBC Sport. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  9. "Chesterfield 0–1 Oldham Athletic". BBC Sport. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  10. "Northampton Town 3–1 Chesterfield". BBC Sport. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  11. O'Rourke, James (2 May 2017). "Retained List: Relegated Chesterfield allow 12 to depart". the72.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  12. "Former Manchester United defender Sadiq El Fitouri joins Ahli Tripoli". Kingfut.com. King Fut. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  13. "Sadiq El Fitouri signs with Politehnica". Politehnica.ro (in Romanian). 30 January 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  14. Swan, Rob. "What happened to the Salford City player Phil Neville told Man Utd to sign in 2015". givemesport.com. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  15. "Sadiq El Fitouri contract peacefully terminated". Politehnica.ro (in Romanian). 28 March 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  16. Hilal Al-Sudan (Facebook) (in Arabic). 14 March 2019 https://www.facebook.com/hilal.alsudan.official/photos/a.989918907692626/2810662015618297. Retrieved 13 November 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. Musiimenta, Ronald (16 March 2019). "Ex Manchester united Defender joins Al Hilal". SOKAFRIKA. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  18. "El-Fitouri, Sadiq". National Football Teams. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  19. "Morocco - Libya 1:0 (Africa Cup Qual. 2015/2016, Group F)". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  20. "Salford City v Kendal Town". Pitchero. 3 January 2015. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  21. "Sadiq El Fitouri". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  22. "El Fitouri, Sadiq". National-Football-Teams.com. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
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